On Wednesday, November 21, the WeChat account of the official People’s Daily issued a statement believed to be from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism; the Dolce & Gabbana (D&G) fashion show in Shanghai had been cancelled. The move to cancel the fashion show was due to an outcry over a series of promotional videos posted by D&G titled “Eating with Chopsticks” and subsequent insulting posts made by Stefano Gabbana, the co-founder of the D&G brand, in a private Instagram chat. As a result, the Italian fashion house was forced to withdraw its products from Chinese e-commerce sites amid calls to boycott the brand, possibly eliminating years of brand building in the Chinese market.
The videos, which were posted on Dolce & Gabbana’s website, were promotion for the company’s new campaign D&G Loves China, billed as a Tribute to China. The clips featured a Chinese model dressed in a red sequined D&G dress, giggling as she clumsily used a pair of chopsticks to eat pizza, spaghetti, and traditional Sicilian cannolo. A male voiceover in a rather suggestive tone asks the actress “Is it too big for you?”94 Social media posts on Instagram were quick to label the ads as stereotypical, racist, culturally insensitive, and disrespectful toward Asian females. The three clips were originally posted on Weibo, one of the most popular microblogging websites in China, and were promptly deleted after the outrage over the brand’s social media posts. However, the story did not end there, and Stefano Gabbana went on to defend their actions on Instagram by saying, “the whole world knows that the Chinese eat with chopsticks and westerners with a fork.”95 An online spat ensued between Stefano Gabbana and a London-based fashion blogger, Michaela Tranova, who accused him of being racist. Messages from his Instagram account went viral before being quickly deleted, but these messages remained on Tranova’s account. In an exchange with Tranova, Gabbana commented that the videos were deleted from Chinese social media “because my office is stupid as the superiority of the Chinese . . . it was my will I never cancel the post.”96 The post turned nasty when he referred to “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia.”97 The comments were accompanied by some rude looking emojis which were not very complimentary of China. The blogger captured a screen shot of the conversation and posted it on her own account.
Customers, activists, and celebrities took to social media at warp speed to express criticism on their social media sites. The crisis blew into arguably its worst public nightmare ever. Fans of D&G were stunned and shocked that a brand they cherished would actually refer to their culture as “ignorant” or “dirty smelling.” One social media user renamed the brand Dead and Gone (D&G). Unfortunately for Gabbana, the rapid escalation into a public relations disaster, fuelled by social media trolls, enabled people to vent their anger in quick time.
It was not clear who was the target audience of the video, a Chinese or western audience.
Some social media users alleged the fashion house was mocking Chinese culture by featuring an instructional video on how to use chopsticks to eat foreign food, as stereotyping, portraying them as ignorant, unrefined, and lacking culture, people who do not know how to eat non-Chinese food, people ignorant of other cultures. The tone was patronising. The irony was certainly not lost in translation. Many posts on social media claimed the videos were misinformed and distasteful.
The lack of cultural sensitivity in the promotional videos shook the Chinese national pride to the core. Reactions were strong and swift with most people expressing disdain for the hurtful content and at the same time declaring their pride at being Chinese.
A comment on the Stefano Gabbana Instagram account claimed it had been hacked, adding, “I love China and Chinese culture. I’m sorry for what happened.”98 A parody of the D&G video showed a white man trying to eat Chinese food with a fork and knife. The brand’s Ambassador for the Asia Pacific region, singer Karry Wang, was quick to react to the snowballing effect of the fallout by ending her contract with the company. She said in a statement, “The motherland is above everything. We are deeply proud and confident about Chinese culture and spiritual aesthetics.
No doubt you are the best.”99 “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” star Zhang Ziyi also used social media to say she would boycott the brand after “they had disgraced itself.”100 Estelle Chen, a well-known Chinese model, posted on Instagram her outrage at the events of the day.
“China is rich yes, but China is rich in its values, its culture and its people and they won’t spend a penny on a brand that does not respect that.”101 Later that day Dolce & Gabbana posted on Twitter:
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 D&G. What happened today was very unfortunate not only for us, but also for all the people who worked day and night to bring this event to life. From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to express our gratitude to our friends and guests.102 Social media users felt it was a lukewarm explanation at best but not an apology. The damage was done. The posts on his Instagram site were seen as more damaging than the videos.
Others felt that no one in China would attend the show in Shanghai, thus it was cancelled. Most posts berated the company D&G for making money in China yet treating the locals like idiots.
Another post on Weibo urged D&G to go someplace else as there is no money for them in China.
Chinese music bands were quick to get in on the act, and Wang Zixin, the leader of CD Rev, a nationalist rap band, remarked that companies who do not respect China do not deserve China’s respect and encouraged people not to forget about the actions of the company for a long time to come. Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai, posted that Dolce & Gabbana could expect a real tough time over the next six to 12 months in the Chinese market.
The ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper weighed in on the debate on Weibo:
“China has always been friendly to foreign businesses. But it does not mean there’s no bottom line. There is a deal only when there is respect.”103 A comment on the WeChat account of the official People’s Daily requested caution: “If one is not willing to understand China, eventually it will lose the China market and the benefits arising from China’s growth.”104 The Central Committee of the Communist Youth league demanded D&G “respect Chinese people”105 as the basic principle of foreign enterprises investing in China. Mr Rein, founder and managing director of China Market Research in Shanghai, said it is a big mistake when “westerners come up with creative content but do not understand how the campaigns will be received by Chinese consumers............”¹⁰⁶

Question 4-1. D&G faced a consumer backlash in China after the video scandal. List the main reasons why you think this happened.
4-2. Using the information above and the cultural dimensions explored in Chapters 3 and 4, discuss whether Chinese consumers should forgive D&G’s misunderstanding of their culture.
4-3. Fashion houses often use edgy ads to promote products. Such edgy campaigns attract attention and can cross the line to cause disrespect in global markets. How can multinational companies ensure advertising content does not antagonize local consumers?
4-4. Discuss the risk of using humor when advertising across borders.
4-5. Multinational is not necessarily multicultural. What do companies need to consider when advertising in the Chinese luxury market?