Promoting its upcoming runway show in Shanghai, Dolce & Gabbana has been accused of racism after its latest advert (part of its "DG Loves China" series) shows a young Asian model (wearing a D&G dress) having trouble eating Italian foods like pizza, pasta and cannoli with chopsticks while a male narrator makes crude innuendos.
One of the videos was captioned: 'Welcome to Episode 1 with Dolce & Gabbana's Eating with Chopsticks. First up today is how to use this stick shaped cutlery to eat your GREAT traditional Pizza Margherita'.
The campaign videos, first posted on Weibo, were quickly attacked by users of the platform and labelled stereotypical, racist and disrespectful to women.
According to Jing Daily, 'Boycott Dolce' has now been discussed more than 18,000 times on Weibo.
D&G has since removed the videos from Weibo but, at the time of writing, the campaign still appears to be live on its Instagram account @Dolcegabbana. Instagram, as you may know, is not accessible in China.
The super brand is no stranger to controversy - remember the bust up with Elton John after Dolce labelled children born through IVF 'synthetic'?
In its attempt to extend its reach in China (and of course the huge consumer base buying luxury goods), has D&G gone too far?
It looks like, as luxury brands increasingly reach out to China to secure sales, big mistakes in tone and taste are being made. Italian fashion powerhouse Dolce & Gabbana’s latest “DG Loves China” online marketing campaign, an elaborate initiative meant to pay tribute to the country and its consumers, has come under fire for trivializing China’s centuries-old culture and depicting Chinese women in a stereotypical and even racist way.
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