It started with a controversial promotional video, got really messy when screenshots went viral of a China-bashing online conversation with the alleged Stefano Gabbana, started snowballing when D&G claimed the account was hacked, and ended with the cancellation of Dolce & Gabbana’s big Shanghai show. A classic trending marketing drama has captured the attention of Chinese netizens today.
One of the biggest topics on Chinese social media today is a controversy involving Italian luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana, better known as D&G (Dùjiābānnà 杜嘉班纳 in Chinese), and the cancelation of its high profile Shanghai fashion show that would have taken place on Wednesday night.
1: The Video
The story starts with the Italian fashion house D&G’s recent campaign series “DG Loves China,” which was launched in order to promote a runway show that was supposed to take place in Shanghai on November 21st.
As part of the campaign, D&G issued multiple videos on social media. One of them shows a Chinese-looking woman – all dressed in D&G – attempting, quite unsuccessfully, to eat a large cannoli bread with chopsticks.
A male Chinese voice over in the video then suggests that the cannoli might be “too big” for the lady (watch one of the videos on Temper Magazine here).
She then takes a small part of the bread with her chopsticks, after which the voiceover says: “Right, now you feel like you’re in Italy, while you are in China.”

The campaign was promoted through Instagram and also went live on Weibo on November 18, using hashtags as #DGLovesChina# and #DGTheGreatShow#. But it was not received very well by many netizens on Chinese social media, with some calling it “outdated and stereotypical,” “racist,” or “disrespectful.”

China-focused fashion publication Temper Magazine notes that this is not the first time for D&G to trigger this kind of controversy in mainland China.

In April of 2017, netizens also reacted angrily to a series of D&G photographs shot in Beijing streets, which featured glam models next to common taxi drivers or impoverished local residents. Many thought the photos purposely showed a more ‘ugly’ side of China, instead of the more glamorous sides of the city.
This week, the D&G videos in question were pulled from Weibo following the criticism. On Twitter, the videos are still available (check one of them in embedded Tweet above to judge for yourself).
2: The “Racist” Designer
The social media storm snowballed out of control after screenshots of comments attributed to fashion designer Stefano Gabbana went viral on Wednesday, also being reposted by major Chinese state media accounts such as Global Times.
The screenshots were posted by Instagram user Michaela Phuong Thanh Tranova (@michaelatranova), a fashion business student, although it is stil unclear why this Instagram user would have a private Instagram conversation with Stefano Gabbana and whether or not they are acquainted.

Alleged screenshots of conversation with Mr. Gabbana (completely unverified but went viral anyway).

Alleged screenshots of conversation with Mr. Gabbana (completely unverified but went viral anyway).
Despite the lack of context and/or veracity of the conversation, the screenshots, in which the alleged fashion designer uses rambling texts and refers to China as the “land of sh*t” and speaks of “China ignorant dirty smelling mafia”, soon spread on Chinese social media, where many netizens called for a boycott of D&G.

“This is not just a designer, he is one of the creators of D&G,” some commenters said: “The brand literally carries his name.” And: “Congratulations with your bankruptcy.”
3: The Cancelled Fashion Show
On Wednesday afternoon, Beijing time, Stefano Gabbana published a post on his official Instagram account, in which the designer said his Instagram account had been hacked, adding, “I love China and the Chinese culture. I’m so sorry for what happened.”

Despite the alleged hack of the Gabbana account, news came out on Wednesday that the much-anticipated Shanghai fashion show of D&G, that would take place this evening, had been canceled.
“The fashion show that was planned on November 21st at 20.00 has been rescheduled due to circumstances, we deeply regret any inconvenience caused,” the official D&G account published on Weibo, just some three hours before the show would take place.
The hashtag “DG Show Cancelled” (#DG大秀取消#) had received 340 million 490 million views at time of writing, being one of the top 10 trending topics of this moment.
According to Chinese media, various Chinese celebrities, including Zhang Ziyi (章子怡) and Chen Kun (陈坤) had already refused to attend the show.
On Weibo, many netizens do not believe the claims by D&G that their account had been hacked, saying things such as: “Ha, ha, ha, your show has been canceled, you tried to make money off China, get lost!”
The Sina Fashion Weibo account has since posted photos of the fashion show venue, that is now deserted (images below).




Meanwhile, Instagram user @michaelatranova, who posted the screenshots of the conversation with the alleged D&G designer, posted on Instagram that “we all (not only us Asians) deserve a better treatment from all (fashion) brands that pretend to cater to our needs just to stuff their pockets with our money.”

Many Chinese netizens seem to agree with the Instagram user, as hundreds of Weibo commenters are calling for a China boycott of D&G.
As this story is still developing, feel free to share your view on this below in the poll: do you believe Gabbana’s account was really hacked, do you think it is an excuse, or is it irrelevant?
[Total_Soft_Poll id=”2″]
For an update of this story, please check this article!
By Manya Koetse, with contributions from Miranda Barnes
Spotted a mistake or want to add something? Please let us know in comments below or email us.
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Ed Sander
November 21, 2018 at 1:56 pm
Regardless of the question if the account was hacked (if it wasn’t we have probably identified the biggest idiot on the planet), the question that I’m wondering about most is: what agency were they using for this campaign?!
EVA-04
November 21, 2018 at 5:50 pm
I’m not surprised D&G would have a marketing campaign like that with the inferred sexual innuendo, they’re deliberately provocateurs in that regard. But really, where’s the harm? Are we at the point where Intersectionality and Cultural Misappropriation ruin everything?
autraka
November 22, 2018 at 6:56 am
Best article I read about this accident. One thing I think is missing is that it is the Chinese models who are preparing for the show decided to quit the show that night. Check out this video http://n.miaopai.com/media/ZG9PxYlMIdYOGSzf-8WT2u3Tjz9MJ4hP