The latest subversive symbol in China is a small pink cartoon pig: Peppa Pig to be precise.
The wildly popular children’s character was scrubbed from Douyin, a video-sharing platform in China, which deleted more than 30,000 clips. The hashtag #PeppaPig was also banned, the Global Times reported.
The seemingly innocuous cartoon’s downfall appears to be no fault of its creators. Instead, the problem is Peppa’s association with counterculture memes and “society people” — a slang term for lowlifes and gangsters.
People who upload videos of Peppa Pig tattoos and merchandise and make Peppa-related jokes “run counter to the mainstream value and are usually poorly educated with no stable job,” the Times said. “They are unruly slackers roaming around and the antithesis of the young generation the party tries to cultivate.”
Footage of tattoos, both real and temporary, have become viral hits, as have fan videos of the pig speaking in various regional dialects. Some memes have taken on dark undertones, occasionally veering into violent or pornographic territory.
Peppa Pig was also swept up in a crackdown last year aimed at picture books, when authorities ordered publishers to reduce the number of foreign titles released in China.
Two Peppa Pig theme parks, in Beijing and Shanghai, are set to open next year.
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