Dolce and Gabbana show cancelled amid controversial ads

Dolce & Gabbana, an Italian fashion line, cancelled their fashion show in Shanghai amid backlash from controversial advertisements and comments from designer Stefano Gabbana. The show was going to be Dolce & Gabbana’s biggest show in the company’s history, with 140 performers and an audience of 1,400 people, running from 7:30 to 8:30 PM (Vogue), but their grand plans were ruined by a single social media post and several offensive comments.

In the videos, a Chinese woman was instructed by a man in Chinese on how to eat a pizza, cannoli, and spaghetti with chopsticks. She poked the pizza and tried to pick up the cannoli and spaghetti with her chopsticks, anything that would allow her to eat the food presented to her. While this was being depicted, stereotypical Chinese music was playing in the background. At the end of the video, the narrator seemingly mispronounced the company’s name on purpose to imitate how Chinese people would pronounce it. The videos were released on various social media sites, including Instagram and Weibo, and it received comments full of hate and disgust not only from the general public, but also from various celebrities, including Chinese singer ,Wang Junkai, and Victoria’s Secret Model, Ellen Chen (The Cut).

Fashion designer Stefano Gabbana’s comments on the video infuriated even more people. In a conversation with model Michaela Phuong Thanh Tranova, Gabbana defended the video, stating, “If the Chinese feel offended [and inferior] by a girl who [eats] pizza or pasta with chopsticks, then it’s [their] problem not ours!!! The whole world knows that the Chinese eat with chopsticks and that the Westerners with a fork and knife!!! Is this racism?? … So you are racist because you eat dogs?” (Harpersbazaar). The fashion company has since claimed that the company’s and Stefano Gabbana’s Instagram accounts were hacked after the release of “unauthorized posts” (Harpersbazaar).

In response to these videos, many models, singers, and ambassadors of Dolce & Gabbana, who previously would have attended and fully supported the fashion line, have decided to boycott them, going so far as to refuse to attend any future shows. The D&G brand and their legacy has been tarnished forever by this incident.

Featured Image – The original advertisement D&G released on Instagram Courtesy of Bigwnews.com