The time Dolce&Gabbana boycotted its brand

Back in November 2018 the iconic Italian luxury house Dolce&Gabbana launched three short ad campaigns (now deleted) under the name of "Eating with chopsticks" on the Chinese social media Weibo while using the hashtag "DGLovesChina". The goal was to promote its extravagant million dollar-runway show in Shanghai, “The Great Show”, which was supposed to take place a few days later. However, the show never happened because of the public backlash caused by the ads.

Dolce&Gabbana "Eating with chopsticks" video series (source: Youtube)

The initial purpose of the campaign was communicating the possible match between the Chinese and the Italian culture in a humoristic way.  A Chinese girl is shown who, despite displaying some clear inexperience in the use of the traditional Chinese cutlery for food that is not supposed to be eaten that way, still seems able to enjoy the “innovative” western meal. 

Furthermore, the ingenuity of the girl and the way she eats, make the D&G jewels stand out and be noticed. The meaning of the campaign was to highlight non-traditional “glamours” that can be found even in the most unconventional situations. 

The failure of the campaign was mainly determined by the many ethnic stereotypes used in the video, embodied by the presence of a Chinese model attempting and failing to eat traditional Italian dishes such as pizza and a Sicilian cannolo with chopsticks. A constant Chinese voiceover is used to explain to the model how to use the chopsticks while using mocking phrases such as “Is it still big for you?” and “Insert the chopstick”. 

Not only did the campaign use sexual mocking sentences, but what sparked the most outrage in the public was the misrepresentation of the Chinese population that appears to lack refinement and understanding of a different culture. In the ad, an insensitive comparison between chopsticks as “small sticks” and “great, traditional” Italian food appears. The model shows an exaggerated surprise and confusion to see Italian food and use utensils from her own culture for it. The scenes almost expect the public to mock her ingenuity.

Besides, the model is wearing a sparkling red Western gown which looks like a Western interpretation of the qipao, a Chinese traditional outfit and this lacks to well embrace and represent the Chinese traditions but rather imposes the superiority of the Western costumes.

The reaction was immediate, with many social media users in China who perceived the video not only as stereotypical but also racist and disrespectful. The following disappointment spread quickly forcing D&G to delete the post in less than one day after the release. That was not sufficient to calm down the Chinese audience. “Boycott Dolce” became the mantra for many customers. 

"D&G is fawning over us for our wallets. I can't accept a company that disrespects me"(comment left on Weibo by a disappointed customer)

Following the requests of an apology, a video made by the two founders of the Italian Maison was released to ask for forgiveness after the inconvenience, both in Chinese and English. However, that was not enough to regain the previous status in Chinese customers. Despite the growth of 4,9% at a group level in 2019 and booming demand for luxury products in mainland China, D&G saw its local sales shrink, bringing the local market share of the company from 25% to 22%.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana apology video (source: Dolce&Gabbana Youtube channel)

More recently, for this year’s Chinese Valentine's Day, the Italian duo opened stores in small-sized cities which were ignored by the Chinese customers and influencers who were invited to offline events refused to collaborate. This shows how one mistake can have a long-term impact on a brand when you underestimated some of your most loyal customers.

This unpleasant episode taught Dolce&Gabbana to be more aware of its actions and think about the impact that an ad can have on brand perception, especially when cultural differences are being considered. Also, there was one more lesson to be learned: never position yourself and your brand above your customers.

REFERENCES

(2019). Dolce & Gabbana see sales slowdown in China after advertisement backlash. Global Times.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1162952.shtml

E. Segran. (2018). Why does luxury fashion hate Chinese consumers? Fast Company.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90273073/why-does-luxury-fashion-hate-chinese-consumers

B. Morse. (2018). The 7 Most Embarrassing Branding Mistakes of 2018. Inc.

https://www.inc.com/brit-morse/2018-biggest-marketing-branding-fails.html

Y. Pan. (2019). Is it Racist?: Dolce & Gabbana’s New Ad Campaign Sparks Uproar in China. Jing Daily.
https://jingdaily.com/dolce-gabbana-racism/

S. Shayon. (2018). Dolce & Gabbana Apologizes for Racist Campaign in China. Brand Channel.

https://www.brandchannel.com/2018/11/26/dolce-gabbana-racist-campaign-china/

C. Cristoferi. (2019). Dolce & Gabbana sees sales slowdown in China after ad backlash. Reuters.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-dolce-gabbana-results-idUSKCN1VH1EV

Y. Xu. (2018). Dolce & Gabbana Ad (With Chopsticks) Provokes Public Outrage in China. NPR.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/12/01/671891818/dolce-gabbana-ad-with-chopsticks-provokes-public-outrage-in-china