Sharon Stone’s own bad karma

Unfortunately, Sharon Stone is not the only one in the West who believes in this karma theory…such as here. As I said before, I believe the “China is evil” concept has long become subconscious in many westerners’ minds that clouds their otherwise objectivity.

Forbes – Ooh la la. In one horrifying moment on the red carpet, Sharon Stone has shown the world what a gamble fashion labels can take when they plaster a famous face on their branding campaigns. Christian Dior has dropped Stone from its Chinese ad campaign after the long-legged Basic Instinct star let slip in a TV interview–now on YouTube–that China’s recent earthquake may have been “bad karma” for the country’s actions actions against Tibet.

Stone has now apologized for her remarks, saying in a press release via Dior’s Shanghai office that she feels “deeply sorry and sad about hurting Chinese people.” But the damage has been done–China’s official Xinhua News Agency said Thursday that Stone was the “public enemy of all mankind,” while myriad blogs have labeled the actress with epithets like “heart of Stone.”

This is all unhelpful PR for Christian Dior, which is already reeling from the a Chinese boycott against French goods because of the Olympic torch’s recent chaotic run through Paris. The view of a handful of analysts who did not wish to be named is that the fashion label would be looking very carefully at its contract with Stone now. Christian Dior could not be reached for comment.

Stone has been part of a worldwide print and television campaign to promote Dior’s Capture skincare line–part of the company’s perfumes and beauty division–since 2006 and was chosen, according to unit president Claude Martinez, because of her “worldwide appeal as a beautiful and desirable woman in her forties, who is clever and independent.”

Christian Dior is the main holding company for LVMH, controlling 42.4% of its shares and 60.0% of voting rights. LVMH’s billionaire boss Bernard Arnault has already insisted that China’s boycott against French goods has had “no effect” on his own profits. (See: “LVMH Boss Shrugs Off Beijing Boycott”)

But Arnault will be worried about this latest business with Stone. China is a key market for LVMH particularly as consumer spending in Western Europe slows down. HSBC analyst Antoine Belge wrote in a recent note to clients that China would become “the most profitable region for luxury companies in the long run.”

LVMH has been expanding its presence in China by buying 55.0% of Wen Jun Spirits, a producer of high-end alcohols, and last October its fashion brand Fendi staged a show at the Great Wall of China.

Stone, who is a recipient of the Harvard Foundation’s 2005 Humanitarian Award for her AIDS-awareness work made her controversial comments last week during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview.

“I’m not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else,” Stone said. “And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you’re not nice that the bad things happen to you?”

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