John Boyega, a Nigerian-British actor, has resigned as global ambassador for Jo Malone, a UK-based perfume brand, after the company replaced him in a Chinese version of an advert he created “without his consent”.

The ‘Star Wars’ actor had in 2019 pioneered a commercial titled ‘The London Gent’ for the company aimed at promoting the brand.

The less than two-minute ad reflected on the movie star’s childhood neighbourhood as well as his Nigerian background.

The video recorded remarkable success after its release and won fragrance foundation virtual award’s best media campaign prize.

Jo Malone, however, produced a Chinese version of the original advert wherein Boyega was replaced with Liu Haoran, a movie star in the country.

Reacting to the development in a Twitter thread, Boyega said his decision to step down as ambassador was because he could not condone the company “dismissively trading out one’s culture” through such manner.

“I have decided to step down as Jo Malone’s global ambassador. When I joined the brand as their first male global ambassador last year, I created the short film we used to launch the campaign. It won the Fragrance Foundation Virtual awards 2020 for Best Media Campaign,” he wrote.

Jo Malone, in its reaction, apologised over the development, adding that it respects Boyega’s decision.

“John Boyega is an incredible talent, artist and person and we were proud to have him as part of our Jo Malone London family. We respect John’s decision and we wish him all the best,” the company wrote on Twitter.