Dolce & Gabbana’s advertising campaign in the lead up to its Shanghai show last year caused a major controversy, resulting in public boycotts and the removal of its products from major e-commerce sites, like Alibaba. What particular aspects of Dolce and Gabbana’s advertisement did the Chinese public find offensive and why?  

This crisis involved a big brand whose intention was to incorporate traditional Chinese and authentic Italian culture together to show that they respect Chinese culture and care about their Chinese customers. However, the Dolce and Gabbana’s advertisement was viewed as disrespectful, racist, sexist, and stereotypical. First, people don’t understand why the model used chopsticks to eat pizza. The model didn’t even use them in the correct way. Additionally, the model was laughing with exaggerated facial expressions. It looked like the girl really didn’t know how to handle the pizza. I think this is also one of the reasons why Chinese people found it so offensive. As you know, chopsticks originated from China. Even though they are tiny little things, they remain a great invention in the history of mankind.  Chinese people are proud of having and using chopsticks – so there is an emotional attachment. Chopsticks represent the age-old Chinese civilization and, of course, epitomize China’s 5000-year history. Dolce and Gabbana’s subtitles also referred to chopsticks as a “small stick tool” while referring to Italian food like pizza as great and tasty. This made many people feel that the brand is arrogant about their culture.

Second, the ad pronounced Dolce and Gabanna incorrectly in a way that mocks the way Chinese people speak. It is interesting that the pronunciation of the brand in the ad is neither Chinese nor Italian but a mix of both. It appeared that the brand wished to make fun of the way some Chinese people speak English, with a very heavy accent. Dolce and Gabbana are trying to interpret Chinese culture from their own perspective, but they are a bit naïve. It makes Chinese consumers think this brand has been patronizing and condescending and disrespectful of their culture. It has really made the Chinese public mad. Things have gone out of control since Weibo users saw the co-founder, Stefano Gabbana’s Instagram message saying that China is a country of “emojis” and that its people are “ignorant and dirty smelling mafia.” Those comments are very rude and disrespectful. So, although I can understand their intention to include Chinese culture in their ad, I can’t think of any explanation for their Instagram comments. No matter where you are from, you would have found that offensive, too.  

 

Dolce and Gabbana ultimately cancelled its Shanghai runway show because of the media backlash from Chinese celebrities who had been cast to walk in the show. What is the significance of the Chinese reaction to this advertising failure?

Chinese consumers wish to show their displeasure. I have seen comments on social media saying things like “if we don’t kick Dolce and Gabbana out of China right now, there will be other foreign brands trampling on our Chinese culture.” Not only are the consumers changing, the whole luxury industry is changing too. In China, people used to buy luxury brands to show their social status. That’s why people are interested in those big brand logos. But nowadays they want to make a personal statement to show their unique identity and personality. They are looking for better quality and designs. So as a luxury brand you can no longer force people to accept anything these days. I have seen people post their chat conversations with Dolce and Gabbana associates. One VIP customer had some deposit in her account and after this crisis she received a message from a sales associate inviting her to shop for new arrivals at the store. The consumer refused because she did not wat to be associated with the brand.

 

What lessons should the fashion industry draw from Dolce and Gabbana’s marketing flop?

There are lots of things the fashion industry can learn from this. First, of course, we have to respect our customers and their culture and understand their needs with empathy. As a foreign brand, you have to communicate with an expert who knows the local culture and doesn’t just take it for granted. Second, as a brand, it is important to show your sincerity to others and take responsibility for any mistakes. At the beginning, Dolce and Gabbana actually claimed their Instagram account had been hacked. That response was unsatisfactory to most social media users.  Later on, the brand posted another statement trying to explain their situation. However, in this statement they just stated they were frustrated because their show had been cancelled. They apologized to their customers and their own staff. I don’t think the PR team understood why people were so mad and that they were at fault. They didn’t mention anything about being wrong. So, the public did not accept their apology and they had to post another video saying sorry in Chinese. But it was too late.

This was not the end. Because after this fiasco Gabbana posted something like “if I don’t like China why do I have Chinese employees and models?” This just made things worse. Finally, I think they have missed the best time to respond to the public. Timing is everything. With the Internet and social media, everything can spread very quickly, so the brand has to stay ahead of the story. Dolce and Gabbana’s PR team did not understand why people were so mad and so they waited too long to respond. And even then, they made numerous mistakes.

 

An article in Foreign Policy noted that Dolce and Gabbana’s advertisement offended Chinese citizens by suggesting a sense of Western superiority. However, this notion that Western fashion is superior may stem partially from China’s failure to create luxury fashion brands that rival those from the West. Why has China been unable to develop its own high-end luxury fashion brands?

The term “haute couture,” which is associated with luxury fashion, is a French term that is protected by the government. From here, we can see luxury is mainly a European phenomenon and it is so connected with European culture. I teach global consumers and have previously taught about luxury fashion markets. Culture is about attitude, opinions, visions of the world, and values. European culture is driven by some values that are, even today, representative of qualitative beauty and aesthetics. It has always been like this in France and Italy, due to the ways of Kings, Queens, and the monarchy, who created beautiful objects as reminders of who they were. So being surrounded by beauty is something that was very important in Europe and has left a legacy today worldwide. When people think of luxury brands, they think of the big 4: Paris, London, Milan, and New York.

The second reason relates to the China’s image and economic development. Many people today still think that “made in China” means cheap low-quality products. Even though China is now the second-largest economy in the world, its GDP per capita is still much lower than in developed countries. It will take time for China to build its country image and associate this image with high-quality design and products.

The third reason is really that Chinese consumers are not interested in domestic brands. They don’t really support their own luxury brands. The younger generation are more confident with local brands, but the older generation still associate Western brands with superior quality and design. There is also this problem where Chinese designers have great designs, (they attended the best fashion design schools like Parsons and FIT) but compared to Japan, for example, are short on compelling vision. Chinese designers show their products in Paris, London, and etc. and they are not bad shows. However, they have not quite managed to surprise the world with an authentic story. This is something Chinese designers wish to improve on. But before that Chinese consumers need to realize and be more confident in local brands and designers. There is a long way to go.  

 

Members of the creative industry in China, including artists and fashion designers, consciously stay away from politics. How does the social and political climate in China affect creativity and design?

For this question I cannot speak for the whole creative industry because they are so different across the category. But I am quite familiar with the fashion industry. I think most Chinese designers just pursue beauty and aesthetic design. They are not trying to approach politics. This makes me disagree with the Foreign Policy article which compared Katy Perry’s sunflower dress and Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium perfume to Dolce and Gabbana’s advertisement. In Katy Perry’s case, only wearing a sunflower dress has no problem. But when you combine a few elements together, the dress, a Taiwanese flag, and timing... That combination made people question the brand’s intentions. It is OK to utilize different Chinese elements in design. But your behavior and the story you are trying to tell, the designer’s intention, do matter. Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium perfume is still on China’s e-commerce websites even though this name reminds many of painful moments in China’s history. So again, from the designer’s perspective it’s all about how you are going to use different fashion elements to tell a good story. Those fashion elements themselves really don’t have a lot to do with the political climate, but the designers’ behavior and intentions do. As a fashion designer, the industry is very competitive these days. You want to convey your unique story and deliver your design to your customers, but you also want to survive in this highly competitive industry, so you don’t want to hurt customers’ feelings. And so, it is important to respect culture.

I actually have observed a few things related to the political climate in China. I recently heard that male stars in China have been told not to wear earrings on entertainment shows. I personally don’t like this because the whole world is moving forward while China is moving backwards. It is related to the fashion industry for sure because if the celebrities are not allowed to wear earrings, which are part of a design, I don’t know what is going to happen next. I don’t take this as a good sign.

At the same time, from my own experience, I feel the Chinese government has put in lots of effort and investment into the fashion and creative industry. Last year I visited fashion incubators in Shanghai and Qing Dao. They are all founded by the Chinese government and the top fashion school in China. They have created space to promote the local fashion industry and for designers to rent at low costs. They also provide training to fashion designers. This will help China’s young fashion designers who do not have the resources to start their own brand.

Chinese people are known to be patriotic, yet they seem to adore high-end Western brands. In fact, some Chinese companies even use Western sounding brand names and Western models to market their products to Chinese consumers. Why is Western luxury fashion so successful in China? Is it due to brilliant marketing strategies, some aspect of Chinese culture, or something else? 

Of course, marketing strategies are very important. Big-name luxury brands have been doing this for a long time and have lots of experience. Fashion consumers are also influenced by Western culture as Western sometimes means advanced technology and therefore better quality and heritage craftsmanship. That is why Chinese consumers prefer Western brands over domestic ones. Also, if you take a look at the most influential magazines, they are all pretty similar and all Western. Vogue China, for example, that is still not local. As you see, in fashion, traditional gatekeepers somehow promote the Western culture a lot. Consumer ethnocentrism is prevalent in China, especially among new emerging wealthy classes, younger consumers and the local elites. Nowadays, these young consumers and wealthy people travel a lot, and many of them are even educated in the West. That’s another reason they love buying global brands and, of course, most of those brands happens to be Western. So yes, Chinese consumers are psychologically or sociologically predisposed towards Western goods. A big part of the reason is really about the country’s economic development and historical experience that make them believe Western goods have better quality and design than local Chinese goods. And that buying them can somehow show good taste and social status.