Dolce & Gabbana: Current Issues


As mentioned before, Dolce & Gabbana’s success is decreasing due to the major issues that have been created by the brand itself. Here are a couple of reasons:

1. Racism Controversy 



On 19th November 2018, Dolce & Gabbana uploaded a series of their China promotional video on Instagram for their upcoming event on the 21st November which later was cancelled due the brand being accused of racism. It features a Chinese model attempting to eat various of Italian dishes with her chopsticks. This culturally insensitive advertising campaign angered many viewers labelling it as “stereotypical, racist and disrespectful for Asian female upon release.” What really angered the people most were the leaked messages of the designer, Stefano Gabbana who wrote “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia” and used the smiling poop emoji to describe the country. Here is a reaction video of what the Chinese people think: https://youtu.be/s6sumA9vd4k



This also happened last time with the “DG Loves China” campaign where the brand’s fashion photoshoot received a lot of criticism for publishing “insulting” pictures. There were comments like:

  • “Isn’t this an insult to China? Why don't they go to places like Sanlitun and Guomao instead? Why do they go find an old uncle that collects garbage to be part of their photo shoot?" 
  • "Boring! Ugly! I personally feel that there is no goodwill on display here, and even shows a slight contempt for us." 
  • "Why have I never seen Beijingers dress like this?" while another simply said: "This is not Beijing." 
  • "In no way is this the way Beijingers view themselves. The rest of you can fantasize about an 'old, romanticised Beijing...'" 

2. Animal Cruelty 



Dolce & Gabbana are known for NOT being cruelty free. The brand has designed and made many of their products using rabbit fur developed by France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research. The fur they’ve developed is known as “Orylag” which is genetically manipulated breed of rabbit and is very popular for its soft and dense feel. It is very cruel and upsetting to know that not only are they killing animals to make luxury goods, but the way they also treat the them. Their entire lives are to be trapped in a cage with complete darkness with no natural sunlight or a breath of fresh air whilst being tortured and suffered from dehydration, malnutrition and wounds and other injuries. Unfortunately, D&G are still refusing to stop even if other brands have left fur in the past. Dolce & Gabbana's iPhone 7 Plus Two-Tone Rabbit Fur. 



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