A Korean restaurant's marketing strategy to give free meals to the beautiful fired back after earning disapproval from netizens.
The controversial LED advert from the restaurant located in Jeju Island at the heart of Zhengzhou in central China's Henan Province has stirred outrage over the social media after it promised free food for those who would succeed in being deemed "handsome," "pretty," or just plain "good-looking."
According to a report from China News as cited by the Women of China, this is the first and only restaurant marketing strategy to come up with such move to attract more customers.
The restaurant, says a report from the Huffington Post UK, makes use of a face-scanning mobile application to determine who eats for free and who pays for their meals.
To make sure that the customer really is qualified for the free food, a group of plastic surgery experts are also there to judge whether the patron's face has passed.
The ad then became viral over the Internet with some netizens from the country and all over the world deeming it "shameful."
"Shameful: At a Zhengzhou restaurant, those with 'beautiful faces' - as judged by plastic surgery sponsors - eat free," @ChineseCurrents posted over Twitter, while a Sina Weibo user wondered whether people deemed "ugly" would have to pay twice.
Local officials were also displeased at how the restaurant's ad affected Zhengzhou's reputation, and had sent workers to remove the neon sign on Tuesday.
The restaurant's manager promised to be more "prudent" in their advertising strategies in the future, but stood firm with their controversial promotion despite their sign's demolition.