GQ CHINA JULY ISSUE RECALLED

CHINA – GQ struck the wrong nerve with their latest issue in China!
GQ launched in China last fall. Struggling in the United States, GQ was hoping to target China’s massive male market. The magazine has hit its first snag in the Chinese market. The July issue of GQ has been pulled from newsstands due to a controversial piece.
The issue was pulled the day after it hit newsstands to remove an unflattering feature on rich Chinese young people, but no one is saying why.
The move by GQ has drawn criticism due to their lack of explanation and it has come across as somewhat sketchy. On Friday, a news article discussing the recall was quickly taken down from the Global Times website without explanation. The article claimed, as others do, that the founder of Beijing’s Sports Car Club, who was featured in the piece, threatened to sue GQ over the story. Allegedly, the GQ reporter didn’t make clear that he was recording their interviews.
The article was title “Super Kids Driving Luxury Cars” and it described the charmed lives of six Chinese twentysomethings in the Sports Car Club. The way GQ portrayed it was that their main concerns were luxury cars, the latest fashions and whose father has the most money.
The feature was filled with the type of elitist comments that drive many Chinese up the wall. One man met an attractive woman and wanted to hang out – until he realized her car was “five years out of fashion.”
“Secondhand good,” he said, losing interest immediately.
A GQ editor declined to comment on the matter, as well as whether the recall had taken place.