The Dolce and Gabbana campaign adverts were incredibly racist and offensive; from the chopsticks’ primitive, disparaging description of ‘stick-shaped cutlery’ to the demeaning and patronising male voice asking the Chinese model if the cannoli is ‘too big’ for her. Part of what makes this so offensive is the fact that they use traditional Chinese cultural symbols – such as the music, the lanterns etc – to try and sell their products; while incorrectly representing them and even portraying them as cruder and simpler than the ‘great, traditional’ Italian culture. This is arguably a form of cultural appropriation; the manipulation and exploitation of an underprivileged group’s culture to sell a product and make money. Whereas it is a hotly contested topic; it’s hard to argue that this D&G campaign did not attempt to make capitol off misrepresenting a country with over a billion people. I would even go as far as to argue that D&G’s skewed-view of the Chinese identity – meek and demure, ignorant, primitive and materialistic – was possibly intentional to spark controversy and get people talking about their brand. This in itself makes everything worse; the fact that D&G disregarded the offense this would undoubtedly cause for the greater benefit to their bank accounts. At the very least, D&G had a terrible marketing team and the normalised manner of misrepresenting different cultures is almost more troubling. The very premise of the advert was about teaching the Chinese folk how to use Chinese chopsticks. Thus, the fundamental assumption is already incredibly racist and coming from a place of superiority. It aims to educate a culture about their own culture and as such, demonstrates the lack of thought and normalcy of misrepresentation in our society today.
