INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Friday, trying to salvage a crucial market for the luxury brand after a backlash against its latest advertising campaign.The Italian fashion
house cancelled a marquee show in Shanghai on Wednesday after celebrities and social media users threatened a boycott over the campaign,
which led e-commerce firms to pull Dolce Gabbana items on Thursday.The furore is a setback for one of Italy's best-known fashion brands in
China, where rivals from Louis Vuitton of LVMH to Kering's Gucci are vying to expand.Chinese buyers account for more than a third of
spending on luxury goods worldwide, and are increasingly shopping at home rather than on overseas trips.Users slammed the video campaign in
which a Chinese woman struggles to eat pizza and pasta with chopsticks while the narrator offers eating lessons in a patronizing tone.The
blunder was compounded when screenshots were circulated online of a private Instagram conversation, in which designer Stefano Gabbana makes
a reference to "China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia" and uses the smiling poo emoji to describe the country
The company said Gabbana's account had been hacked.In a video apology on Friday, Gabbana and co-founder Domenico Dolce said they had
"reflected seriously" and were saddened by the impact of their words."In the face of our cultural misunderstanding, we hope that we can earn
your forgiveness," Dolce, speaking in Italian, said in the video of the two designers seated side-by-side.The 85-second video with Chinese
subtitles was posted on China's Twitter-like platform, Weibo.Gabbana also asked for forgiveness and offered a formal apology to Chinese
The designers ended the video by saying sorry in Mandarin."We will never forget this experience and lesson, and this sort of thing will
never happen again," Gabbana said.It's not the first gaffe by Dolce Gabbana in China, where the brand came under fire on social media last
year for a series of advertisements showing the grungy side of Chinese life.Other upsets have come and gone in China without appearing to
cause lasting damage, including at brands like Kering's Balenciaga, which apologised in April amid a backlash over how some Chinese
customers had been treated in Paris.However, the crisis for Dolce Gabbana showed no sign of easing on Friday
Retailer Lane Crawford said it would pull the brand from its stores and online sites in mainland China and Hong Kong after customers had
returned Dolce Gabbana items.Most of the comments posted under the apology video on Weibo were also critical."We don't have to accept your
Go and make money in other countries, there's none for you here in China," one user wrote.(Except for the headline, this story has not been
edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
