DonB次元官网网址檛 mess with China and its growing cadre of powerful luxury consumers.
Dolce&Gabbana learned that lesson the hard way when it faced a boycott after Chinese expressed outrage over what were seen as culturally insensitive videos promoting a major runway show in Shanghai and subsequent posts of insulting comments in a private Instagram chat.
The company blamed hackers for the anti-Chinese insults, but the explanation felt flat to many and the damage was done. The Milan designers cancelled the Shanghai runway show, meant as a tribute to China, as their guest list of Asian celebrities quickly joined the protests.
Then, as retailers pulled their merchandise from shelves and powerful e-commerce sites deleted their wares, co-founders Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana went on camera B次元官网网址� dwarfed against the larger backdrop of an ornate red wall-covering B次元官网网址� to apologize to the Chinese people.
B次元官网网址淲e will never forget this experience, and it will definitely never happen again,B次元官网网址� a solemn-looking Gabbana said in a video statement posted Friday on social media.
The apology video , and the sharp public backlash that demanded it, shows the importance of the Chinese market and the risks of operating in it. More broadly, it highlights the huge and still-growing influence of China, a country that cannot be ignored as it expands economically, militarily and diplomatically.
These trends are intertwined in frequent outbursts of nationalist sentiment among consumers who feel slighted by foreign brands or their governments. ItB次元官网网址檚 not the first time a company has apologized, and it surely wonB次元官网网址檛 be the last. Mercedes-Benz did so in February for featuring a quote by the Dalai Lama on its Instagram account.
For Dolce&Gabbana, it could be mark the end of its growth in China, a crucial market for global luxury brands that it has cultivated since opening its first store in 2005 and where it now has 44 boutiques.
B次元官网网址淚 think it is going to be impossible over the next couple of years for them to work in China,B次元官网网址� said Cary Cooper, a professor of organizational psychology and health at Manchester University in England. B次元官网网址淲hen you break this kind of cultural codes, then you are in trouble. The brand is now damaged in China, and I think it will be damaged in China until there is lost memory about it.B次元官网网址�
London-based Brand Finance consultancy estimates that the scandal could wipe up to 20 per cent off the Dolce&Gabbana brandB次元官网网址檚 value of $937 million, which already places it out of the top 50 global apparel brands. They are 36th among all Italian brands, extending to sectors like automotive.
That could shake Dolce&GabbanaB次元官网网址檚 financial health. The privately held company does not release its individual sales figures. But Chinese consumers are responsible for a third of all luxury spending around the globe, according to a recent study by Bain consultancy. That will grow to 46 per cent of forecast sales of an estimated 365 billion euros ($412 billion) by 2025, fueled by millennials and the younger Generation Z set, who will make a growing percentage of their purchases online.
B次元官网网址淲ithout China, the hinterland for growth, D&G will obviously be in a weak competitive position and in danger of being eliminated,B次元官网网址� the Chinese business magazine New Fortune said in a social media post Sunday. B次元官网网址淭his is one of the major reasons why D&G finally lowered its head. They really cannot survive without the Chinese market.B次元官网网址�
While Dolce&Gabbana has displayed a knack for social media engagement, inviting millennial influencers with millions of collective followers to sit in their front rows or walk in their shows, that engagement has been a double-edged sword. Pop idol Karry Wang, who has drawn hundreds of screaming Chinese fans to the designerB次元官网网址檚 Milan showroom for season runway shows, was one of the first to disavow the brand, saying he was ending his role as Asia-Pacific brand ambassador.
Dolce found himself on the defensive several years ago after Elton John lashed out for comments that suggested he did not support gay couples using surrogate mothers to have children. At the time, more than 67,000 tweets urged #boycottdolcegabbana, while Courtney Love vowed to burn her Dolce&Gabbana garb and Martina Navratilova pledged to trash her D&G shirts.
Gabbana, who has 1.6 million Instagram followers, faced a more contained backlash earlier this year when he responded to a collage of Selena Gomez photos on Instagram with the comment, B次元官网网址淪heB次元官网网址檚 really ugly.B次元官网网址�
Celebrities took to social media Wednesday to blast Dolce&Gabbana and said they would boycott the show, which was cancelled. By Thursday, the companyB次元官网网址檚 goods had disappeared from major e-commerce websites. The prevailing sentiment was captured by an airport duty-free shop that posted a photo of its shelves emptied of D&G products: B次元官网网址淲e have to show our stance. We are proud to be Chinese.B次元官网网址�
The rapid escalation into a public relations disaster was fueled by social media. Individuals posted videos of themselves cutting up or burning their Dolce&Gabbana clothes, or picking them up with chopsticks and putting them in the trash. A parody of the offending Dolce&Gabbana videos, which featured a Chinese woman using chopsticks to eat pizza and an oversized cannoli, shows a white man trying to eat Chinese food with a fork and knife. At least three rap bands took up the cause with new songs.
B次元官网网址淐ompanies that donB次元官网网址檛 respect us donB次元官网网址檛 deserve our respect,B次元官网网址� Wang Zixin, team leader of CD Rev, a nationalist rap band, said by phone from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. Its new song had been viewed more than 850,000 times on Weibo.
B次元官网网址淲e hope people will remember companies that have ever insulted China, and not forget about them when the fallout passes,B次元官网网址� Wang said.
That sense of pride reflects a nationalism that has been encouraged by the government, often in disputes China has with other countries over other foreign products.
Sales by Japanese automakers plunged in 2012 amid tensions between islands both countries claim in the East China Sea. The clash also illustrated the complexity of Chinese sentiment: Industry analysts said buyers didnB次元官网网址檛 want to be seen in Japanese auto showrooms but went ahead with planned purchases once tensions had passed.
More recently, several foreign companies ran afoul of BeijingB次元官网网址檚 insistence that they explicitly refer to Taiwan, a self-governing territory, as part of China. Many complied, showing how important the Chinese market has become.
Delta, American and other airlines agreed to refer to Taiwan as part of China, and Zara now says B次元官网网址淭aiwan, ChinaB次元官网网址� on its website after regulators criticized the fashion brand for calling Taiwan a country. Marriott announced it B次元官网网址渞espects and supportsB次元官网网址� ChinaB次元官网网址檚 sovereignty after it was ordered to shut its China website for a week.
Actor Richard Gere, a supporter of the Dalai Lama, has told The Hollywood Reporter that movie studios balk at hiring him for fear of an official or public backlash that might affect ticket sales in China.
It remains unclear whether the D&G mea culpa video will stop the backlash B次元官网网址� or if it will have implications for Made-in-Italy at large. The scandal erupted as ItalyB次元官网网址檚 high-end furniture and design companies were making an annual presentation in Shanghai and as Miu Miu, the Prada GroupB次元官网网址檚 little sister line, showed its cruise line in Shanghai.
Italian designers have so far refrained from comment. Dolce & Gabbana has remained conspicuously outside of the Italian Fashion Chamber, which organizes fashion weeks and acts as a lobby for the fashion industry.
Brand FinanceB次元官网网址檚 luxury expert, Alex Haigh, said the scale of the Chinese reaction risked contagion in other markets, but that the brand could get ahead of the scandal if it makes sincere change. B次元官网网址淭hey have made a big storm for themselves,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淭hey need to wait a few months, and potentially do something like Volkswagen, when it had the emission scandal and repositioned itself as a more environmentally friendly electric-vehicle-first brand. Sometimes these issues can be a focal point for change.B次元官网网址�
Italian commentators mused whether the Dolce&Gabbana protests were truly spontaneous or if there was some level of government control behind them. The government has publicly said the spat had no diplomatic element and would not comment.
B次元官网网址淎nywhere in the world, an entrepreneur can make a mistake, use inappropriate language. Usually it is the consumers and the market to decide the seriousness of the offence,B次元官网网址� the Milan daily Corriere della Sera wrote in a commentary. B次元官网网址淥nly in China is one forced to produce a humiliating video with public self-criticism, like in the time of MaoB次元官网网址檚 revolution. Now China feels powerful and is applying re-education on a global scale.B次元官网网址�
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Barry reported from Milan. AP journalists Joe McDonald and Dake Kang and researchers Henry Hou and Jiawei Chen contributed to this report.
Ken Moritsugu And Colleen Barry, The Associated Press
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