Dolce & Gabbana’s China faux pas shows global brands must tread gently on local sensitivities
- The destruction of D&G’s brand value in China is a lesson for foreign firms on marketing missteps, the power of social media, and crisis response in China
Dolce & Gabbana last week cancelled their Shanghai fashion show in the biggest overseas market for the Milan luxury designer, bowing to public backlash from a controversial advertisement and an Instagram post that offended Chinese consumers.
The two founders of their eponymous fashionwear designer apologised in a video post, five days after the fracas first erupted. It was the kind of publicity that no company needs, not least the kind of company whose very livelihood relies on public goodwill.
The Italian designer follows a dozen other brands from Japan, France, South Korea and Germany that have found themselves or their nations’ people being accused of offending the sensitivities of Chinese consumers. The way back from purgatory would require at least six months of public relations, shaving untold millions off revenues, according to retail analysts and consultants familiar with the power and history of China’s retail boycotts.
Foreign brands need to pay particular attention to the “thin-face and sensitive” nature of Chinese consumers, because they “are very sensitive to anything they would consider as a put-down,” especially with the perception that “China is regaining its historical and rightful place as a global superpower,” said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of China Market Research Group, which helps foreign firms grow and invest in China. “There was a feeling that American and European nations looked down upon China,” so any impression of mocking the Chinese people or culture would give offence, he said.
Dolce & Gabbana’s troubles began on November 18 with a video advertising that showed a Chinese model struggling to eat pizza, spaghetti and a cannoli – a Sicilian dish of tube-shaped fried pastry filled with ricotta – to an Italian voice over. The video was deleted within 24 hours from the designer’s website after viewers posted criticisms on it.
While the advertisement was derided as tasteless by many, the real anger began after Stefano Gabbana’s Instagram chat with model Michele Tranovo was posted online, where the company’s co-founder included racist remarks in a rant against China for the backlash stirred by the advertisement.
