Real estate developer faces backlash for using female models’ bodies as ‘brochures’

The developer has been suspended from making sales on the project

File: A video that has gone viral in China shows two women in backless dresses with the floor plan of a property project drawn on their backs (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A real estate developer in China has been criticised for using female models as “brochures” for properties, painting floor plans on their naked backs at a promotional event. 

The company in Xian, Shaanxi province faced a backlash online, accused of deploying a “vulgar” stunt and treating women’s bodies as “cheaper than paper”.

A video of the event, which has been widely shared on social media in China, shows two women in backless dresses with the floor plan of a property project drawn on their backs, according to South China Morning Post.

The floor plans show the layout of the property and the size of the rooms. 

Confirming the incident, the local government said the developer has been suspended from making sales on the project. An investigation is also underway, said a staff member of the publicity office of Shaanxi National Aerospace Economic and Technological Development Zone, where the project is located.

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“I guess the logic behind it is that women are cheaper than paper?” one user said on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. 

A similar promotional event had sparked outrage in China in 2018. A realtor drew floor plans on women’s backs for an exhibition in Nanning City, in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

A video posted by China’s CGTN then showed four women, wearing only skirts, with their backs painted with the development project plans. The developer was widely criticised on Weibo and its office was shut as authorities investigated the incident. 

In 2015, another real estate company had also painted the floor plans of their properties on the backs of female models.