The Popular cartoon character Peppa Pig has been removed from one of China’s most popular social media sites, amid concerns the porcine personality has become a subversive icon.
Though the ban has not been officially confirmed, the hashtag #PeppaPig has been removed from the Douyin video website, The Global Times reports, and recent searches for the cartoon produce no results.
Despite being targeted at a pre-school audience, the cartoon pig has become an icon of the young adult shehuiren subculture in China.
According to The Global Times, the subculture “refers to people who run counter to the mainstream value and are usually poorly educated with no stable job.
“They are unruly slackers roaming around and the antithesis of the young generation the (Communist) Party tries to cultivate.”
It is not the first time the cartoon, which is shown in more than 180 countries worldwide, has fallen foul of international audiences.
Last year an episode was pulled off air in Australia for a second time after complaints that it encouraged children to play with spiders.
The Mister Skinny Legs episode shows Peppa being told that spiders “can’t hurt you” by her father, so she proceeds to play with the spider and tuck it into bed with her.
This advice from the British show was deemed to be “inappropriate” for Australian audiences.