Sarah Dzafce’s act triggered a backlash across East Asia and drew criticism not only at the model herself but also the country’s national brand.

Ms Dzafce was stripped of her Miss Finland title after the image showed her pulling the corners of her eyes to perform a slanted-eye gesture – widely regarded as racist towards East Asians.

The image, which was posted late November with a caption “eating with a Chinese”, has sparked outrage in China, Japan, and South Korea, where users accused the 22-year-old of racial mockery.

The backlash soon widened to include Finland’s national airline, Finnair, which faced online criticism despite having no involvement in the incident.

Ms Dzafce said the gesture was her reaction to “severe headaches” and blamed her friend for adding the caption on the post without her permission.

She, however, apologised after it caused “ill will in many people”.

“That was not my intention in any way… One of the most important things for me is respect for people, their backgrounds and differences,” she wrote in an Instagram post.

This has caused damage to our country

On Tuesday, Finland’s prime minister publicly criticised the gesture.

“Yesterday, during a debate in parliament, I said that this has caused damage to our country. That is certainly the case,” Petteri Orpo told reporters following a summit with European countries near the Russian border.

“Personally, I do not accept racism in any form,” he said.

The issue snowballed after two members of parliament, Kaisa Garedew and Juho Eerola, also posted images of themselves doing the same gesture to support Ms Dzafce. The posts were criticised and Mr Eerola apologised. He said he felt Ms Dzafce was given a “disproportionately harsh punishment”.

The Finnish government’s parliamentary group chairman Jukka Kopra said “this should not have happened”, condemning the series of “derogatory” and “inappropriate” incidents.

Mr Orpo said he believes that the parliamentary group “will deal with this matter with the appropriate seriousness”.

Finnair said the posts had affected the company, and it faced boycott calls.

“We have received several comments on Finnair’s Japanese X account about these images, which are considered racist and discriminatory,” Finnair’s communications director Paivyt Tallqvist told news outlet Yle.

“The message in the comments is consistent: do not travel to this country, do not travel with Finnair.”