D&G's not so 'Great show'

After my recent post on cultural misappropriation, I felt I had to write about the most recent and high-profile example of this as it is still unfolding. Yet Another big brand has failed to see how advertisements and comments would be offensive and inappropriate. Dolce and Gabanna where the perpetrators of the misappropriation caused in the build up to what was being called ‘the great show’.

The ‘Great show’ was set to take place in China’s capital shanghai, claiming to be a tribute to China and Chinese culture. However, the show was cancelled just hours before it was meant to take place. The build up to the show had been big and expensive, and the brand is thought to have lost several millions from the last-minute cancellation, but what caused it?

The First cause of the uproar was the release of the promotional videos on social media. The videos show a Chinese model attempting to eat a variety of Italian food with chopsticks and struggling. In the background there was stereotypical Chinese music, and then a patronizing voice gives the woman advice on how to eat the food saying “don't attempt to use the chopsticks as knives" and "just use your chopsticks like pliers." Many people saw the videos as inappropriate ways of playing on Chinese culture, and found them offensive and racist. Social media blew up with the outrage from the videos, making the topic quickly viral, fuled by the updates from the popular Instagram page @dietprada.

The second and final blow to the ‘Great show’ was the publishing of some extremely, undisputedly offensive and racist private messages, supposedly sent by one half of the brands ambassador and owner Stefano Gabbana, on the day of the show. Although Stefano denies that he wrote any of the messages, claiming his account was hacked,it is due to his history of causing offense on social media, even being called a bully, that the legitimacy of this claim has been questioned by many.

As soon as the social media uproar began many celebrities and models dropped out of the event, and made their outrage at the brand public. Stefano posted a screenshot of the messages with writing all over it saying ‘not me’. Celebrities sarcastically displayed their displeasure towards the brand by writing ‘not me’ on their badges for the event and posting it.

Boycotts by Chinese citizens have also been frequent and viral, with people publically burning and destroying there D&G products. Viral Videos of shops clearing their shelves of any D&G products have surfaced, and protests have lead to a major rise in security to the D&G stores in China.

      

The brand have released several statements in a desperate attempt to control the crisis;

"We are very sorry for any distress caused by these unauthorized posts,"

"We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China."

"Our dream was to bring to Shanghai a tribute event dedicated to China which tells our history and vision,"

"It was not simply a fashion show, but something that we created especially with love and passion for China and all the people around the world who loves Dolce & Gabbana."

However judging by the on going fury people are displaying on social media, the statements did not seem to help, and only fuel the anger.

It is clear that the Brand is in real trouble, and I can’t help but be baffled by how simple avoiding a situation like this could have been. I do believe that sometimes outrage on social media can be overly dramatic, and that people get offended to easily, however in this case that is not true. When watching the videos for the show I could see straight away how that would offend a culture. Weather it was an innocent play on the culture or not, a brand of this status has teams of people who know a lot more about basic marketing than I do. If I could see the issue, there is absolutely no reason that the potentially hundreds of people involved in the making of the film, couldn’t have realised how inappropriate it was.

As for the alleged messages I would hope that nobody would be so unsympathetic and racist, let alone the owner of a major fashion brand. I can see how someone hacking the account to ruin the success of the show may be feasible, however the lack of trust in Stefano’s claims are totally justified. By getting into so much trouble with his strong opinions and offensive comments in the past, Stefano has no one to blame but himself for the lack of trust people have in him, and consequently the brand.

It will be interesting to see how such a staple designer brand in the fashion industry cope with this disaster. Will they survive? Or will the loss of customers and celebrity support be the ultimate end of D&G as a successful brand. There have been all kinds of speculation as to if Stefano will leave the brand or not. Whatever D&G do, they have some serious implications due to textbook misappropriation, that could have been easily avoided.