Protest comments get Taipan mooncakes removed from JD.com and Tmall

Following personal social media activity made by a member of its company's leadership, Taipan Bread and Cake products appear to have been removed from Tmall and JD.com.Though the majority brands who operate in China have been on their tiptoes in relation to Hong Kong's ongoing anti-extradition bill protests, brands are still falling victim to the scrutiny of Chinese netizens and retaliation from Chinese e-Commerce platforms for "inappropriate opinion". The latest example of this occurred on Monday when products from Taipan Bread and Cake were seemingly taken off Tmall and JD.com, two of China's biggest eCommerce sites.The action was allegedly taken after Garic Kwok, director of the company, shared news about Hong Kong people forming human chains across the city on his personal Facebook account, a platform that is banned in mainland China.Kwok also shared a derogatory image listing the supposed major characteristics of "blue ribbons" (a term for supporters of the Hong Kong SAR government, who generally hold a pro-China stance). The captions on the image read that such supporters, "lack the ability to handle complicated issues", "have no pursuit of truth", "lack empathy", "no justice", and "can only see the surface of any problem".Kwok's posts attracted criticism from the communist party paper,  the People’s Daily on Monday. In a post, the paper criticised Kwok's support of  “activities of those dressed in black”, and said that he “forwards pictures to ridicule the government and police, which has aroused public anger”.China state paper the Global Times followed up by stating that Kwok had deleted his posts and posted a message saying: "I apologise if my words are misunderstood or offend someone". He also said the posts were a "personal share" which had nothing to do with Taipan as a company.However,  at some point during all of this, a blacklisting seems to have occurred and still seems to be in place. Tmall still shows no result when searching for the Taipan Bread, nor can it be found on  JD.com. Furthermore, this issue has sparked anger among Chinese netizens, with many saying that they won't accept an apology from the company, with some even demanding the company quit China entirely.Recently Cathay Pacific was in the spotlight due to the resignation of two of its leaders, a result of mainland anger at the seeming public support by staff members for the Hong Kong protests.