The crash and burn of Dolce and Gabbana
A famous luxury brand, Dolce and Gabbana have recently released a
video that became viral due to many comments on racism on chinese
people, it features a chinese model being taught to eat spaghetti and
other food with chopsticks. Stefano Gabbana, company’s co founder
made comments and engaged in conversations implying that “chinese
people eat dogs”, however soon blamed that his account was hacked.
Many chinese people have took action and blamed all the Dolce and
Gabbana brand clothes, bags and more, stating to protect their nation
and people, and said the will to do this for the “nation’s dignity”. Since
this controversial ad has came out, the brand has been forced to cancel
the show, with “not me” posters mocking Stefano Gabbana, and lost many
financial sponsorships according to many news sources. Many influencers
and models also announced their decision to skip and not show to shows or
continue their support for this brand due to the comments and current situation.
sources:
18 comments:
This type of boycott in China seems to have proven to be very effective, as seen with instances with Victoria's Secret models being banned, Hollywood films, etc. As the previous commenter said, Americans are outraged, and have tried to enact the same kinds of boycotts for other products, in context of other degrading marketing tactics, but nothing seems to stick quite well.
I agree with the previous commenters that the effectiveness of this boycott is very intriguing. I saw a Washington Post article on this topic, and there was one quote that stuck out to me from Jerry Clode, a Shanghai luxury brand adviser: "There wasn’t a national political context. This was grass-roots anger that snowballed into a real catastrophe."
Chinese citizens were rightfully offended by the ad and the comments. Expounding upon what previous commenters said, I believe that the reason American boycotts aren't as successful is that in addition to the U.S. having a smaller population than China, Americans aren't unified around causes like this as easily. Generally, when grassroots movements begin in the U.S. in response to brand controversies, it's smaller swaths of people. Also, American retailers, in my opinion, are less likely to participate in these boycotts if the public backlash isn't large enough, while in China, "Alibaba and JD.com, the country’s two biggest platforms, removed the [Dolce and Gabbana's] products" (from the same article).
The ad was no doubt offensive and distasteful. There is a clear mockery of the Chinese -- China has, for the most part, modernized, and no one eats pizza with chopsticks. Although not quite cultural appropriation, this level of cultural mockery is what the term "cultural appropriation" should attack. I think one of the main problems in society is this attempt to draw the line between cultural appreciation and mockery. While the Dolce and Gabbana video mocks the Chinese culture , simply wearing Chinese clothing -- even if you aren't Chinese -- shouldn't be considered mockery. For Halloween, for example, people should be allowed to wear Disney princess costumes.
I think that this company thinks it is even remotely acceptable to portray the Chinese people in such a light, especially in this day and age. Ironically, China is the 2nd strongest economy and to perpetuate stereotypes that are completely false and ridiculous saying that "Chinese people eat dog" or eat foreign food as ridiculous as the model was attempting to is just unbelievable! I think that the response that came from the Chinese people is appropriate to this ad. Their apology that their owners of this brand tried to come out with just 5 days of backlash seems to me like its fake and not a true reflection of their character. They say that they were raised to "respect different cultures" but clearly the fact they overlooked this ad to be non-offensive and the comments on their instagram points many to conclude that they are the exact opposite from being respectful of different cultures. Hopefully in the future people, especially those with great influence, realize the actions they take are reflections of them and take steps to avoid something like this from happening again.
There have been many stores that have been called out for racist or degrading ads this past year;some like the Macy's single mom ad which may not have been as racist as online social media users thought it was. However this ad is blatantly disrespectful towards the Chinese and mocks their culture. I don't know the process of making ads or which people they go through, but even if the ad somehow missed the socially acceptable checkpoint there are definitely economic repercussions. According to CNN "Chinese consumers spend over $7 billion each year on luxury goods...That's nearly one-third of the global market." If Dolce and Gabbana wanted to start making a profit from that, this is was one way to set them twenty steps back. It might have been unintentional.The ad may not have been reviewed by the right people in the company, because it wouldn't make sense to alienate the country you are trying to do business in. It is best that Dolce and Gabbana look to change things up in their publicity sector to prevent this from happening again.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/24/business/dolce-gabbana-china/index.html
This type of boycott is what America likes to think they do. Their company actually suffered in the Chinese market and they had to close a store. When that H&M thing came out last year, not much happened but angry tweets. Once we get over our materialistic desires, maybe we can look from the Chinese and see how it's really done.
The market of China alone is a driving force in many companies eyes right now as there are so many people looking to buy foreign goods. This has made companies like Dolce and Gabbana try to reach out and gain a foothold in the country. Unfortuanely for them, the only good thing that came out of this was that they had their name in the headlines, not for anything good though.
This type of stereotyping reflects terribly on the company as a whole and the country as they will begin to affiliate Dolce and Gabbana with certain racist and degrading language.
China is a huge consumer of these high end brands, which is why Dolce & Gabbana probably decided to have their show there this year. The ad that came out was truly shocking and a complete mockery of the culture. After the scandal erupted, other actions taken by Gabbana surfaced, such as rude comments on social media and other racist remarks. This makes it very hard to believe that his account was hacked and he had no part in any of it. Either way, multiple actors and models as well as consumers are boycotting the brand as everyone else mentioned, which I believe is the best response to the company's decisions. Dolce & Gabbana need to face the repercussions of actions.
I think this will be detrimental to Dolce and Gabbana due to China being one of the biggest consumers in the world. I think the reaction from the Chinese people was justifiable, since it was very disrespectful and racist towards the Chinese culture. Also, if the Chinese didn't react so dramatically, I think it would lead to Dolce and Gabbana believing that they could get away with these racist remarks and do it without much repercussions. In the CNN article, it stated the company apologized by simply saying "Our families taught us to respect all cultures of the world," Dolce said. "We hope to receive your forgiveness for our cultural misunderstandings.". This message seems not genuine and doesn't seem like they regret their actions.
Demonizing one of their largest consumer groups was definitely a bad move on Dolce and Gabbana's part. As seen from this case, racism is definitely still precedent in today's society. Although it may no longer be as extreme as some drag it out to be, racism is still real. People attempt to dismiss these acts of racism by diminishing them as "just a joke." It's nice to see that even large organizations like Dolce and Gabbana cannot escape the backlash from their racist acts.
It's interesting that Hu Xijin believes China should be more tolerant of such overt racism in order to prove itself in the world market. I disagree with this argument, not only because it enables the continuation of prejudice but because the response of Chinese consumers is a wake-up call to Dolce & Gabbana that they are not, despite what they may believe, untouchable. They are, like any other company, subject to the will of the consumer. In this increased age of globalization, they are going to have to realize that there is a world beyond their luxury bubble, and that they will have to exercise respect toward other cultures if they are to increase their success and influence in the global market.
Companies are beginning to be held accountable for their actions, especially now that the internet allows information to spread more quickly. Consumers are sending the message that companies need to adapt to the time period and carefully vet the advertisements and information they send out and make sure that none of it is hurtful or prejudiced. As technology unites people are creates an environment for a "mob mentality," more protests and boycotts like this will happen, which ultimately gives the consumer more power to make themselves heard.
Companies are beginning to be held accountable for their actions, especially now that the internet allows information to spread more quickly. Consumers are sending the message that companies need to adapt to the time period and carefully vet the advertisements and information they send out and make sure that none of it is hurtful or prejudiced. As technology unites people are creates an environment for a "mob mentality," more protests and boycotts like this will happen, which ultimately gives the consumer more power to make themselves heard.
Blatantly mocking such a large population who also happens to be a portion of their followers/customers seems like a very illogical move to make. The fact that they would say that there account got hacked seems like some easy blatant excuse after the fact of realizing how the public has responded to those statements. Encouraging stereotypes and prejudice is wrong in all sense and should be a warning to other brands that may be pushing negative outlooks on a culture. I think that boycotting the brand in every sense is a very effective way as it will greatly discourage consumers from giving them any profit. I agree with Anouk about the fact that a history of inappropriate remarks in the past makes the excuse of hackers seemingly less truthful. Whether or not this will permanently hurt the brand is hard to tell.
Blatantly mocking such a large population who also happens to be a portion of their followers/customers seems like a very illogical move to make. The fact that they would say that there account got hacked seems like some easy blatant excuse after the fact of realizing how the public has responded to those statements. Encouraging stereotypes and prejudice is wrong in all sense and should be a warning to other brands that may be pushing negative outlooks on a culture. I think that boycotting the brand in every sense is a very effective way as it will greatly discourage consumers from giving them any profit. I agree with Anouk about the fact that a history of inappropriate remarks in the past makes the excuse of hackers seemingly less truthful. Whether or not this will permanently hurt the brand is hard to tell.
Though the intended message of the ad was probably not meant to degrade Chinese people or culture, this was probably the most bizarre way Dolce & Gabbana could have conveyed the message, if they even got a message across at all. And even when they completely missed the target, it astounds me how after a string of similar controversies such as H&M's "monkey" sweatshirt ad that the company didn't even realize the glaring prejudice and Eurocentrism that could be interpreted from their ad. The company may not be inherently racist, but their massive ignorance and negligence towards their Chinese consumers will cost them.
I found the video quite disturbing for multiple reasons.
The video instructs a Chinese woman on how to use chopsticks to eat Italian food, assuming that the woman needs a lesson about chopsticks from Italian men with a food chopsticks are not normally associated with. While this advertisement could be meant to use chopsticks in an unconventional manner and thus, be "funny," it did not actually provide any substance, becoming quite confusing to its actual purpose and coming across as offensive.
The video refers to chopsticks as "pliers" for picking up the pizza. Chopsticks symbolize utility and humanity. Seeing this symbol demoralized to rusty tools is offensive to years' worth of culture. In contrast to the video's chopstick description as "small stick shaped cutlery," the ad calls Italian pizza as "great" and "traditional," casting Chinese culture as inferior.
Although Dolce and Gabbana expressed how the ad was intended for "cultural appreciation," the ad itself made a mockery of Chinese culture, provided no substance or appreciation of Chinese heritage, and publicly demonstrated that Chinese "ignorance" is only alleviated by Italian education, creating an offensive advertisement that strays so far from its "intention" that it seems there was little thought before posting.
In private Instagram messages, Dolce and Gabbana described racist Chinese stereotypes and used vulgar language to describe China. Not only have they disrespected Chinese culture, but they have failed to repair their mistakes and acknowledge their hurtful, racist comments. The messages call people who believe the video as racist "sensitive" when in reality, they are being outspoken about injustices and disrespect.
However, the pair have responded that Gabbana's Instagram had been hacked during the time of these comments. While this is possible since the messages were leaked hours after the ad was aired (a person who dislikes them might want to damage their reputation), Dolce and Gabbana have said controversial and degrading statements about LGBTQ+ families and Selena Gomez. Even if Gabbana did not make these comments, it is alarming that someone has these negative, racist thoughts or that revenge can drive a person to commit a deed that impacts the many lives and jobs under the brand. I would like to assume best intent and once again, acknowledge the possibility of a hacking, but I am still disappointed in the brand for allowing the advertisement to be aired.
The brand has attempted an apology, and I slightly appreciate their efforts. However, to prove they truly love Chinese culture (as they claim they do), they need to do more than a simple video apology in order to be forgiven.
Other famous brands have also been ridiculed for not being respectful to different identities. For example, Victoria Secret's L Brands' chief marketing officer Ed Razek claimed that they did not want to include transgender models because the show is a "fantasy" and "entertainment special." This offensive comment sparked backlash among many celebrities like Halsey and led to Razek apologizing and welcoming the idea of transgender models in the show.
Our world needs to be more thoughtful of how we present ourselves and the possible repercussions our representation can have on society.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2018/12/03/victorias-secret-fashion-show-cant-escape-controversy-performer-slams-lack-inclusivity/?utm_term=.647e7bcf42d5
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