My thoughts on the Dolce and Gabbana advertisement campaign vary quite widely. As an advertisement for their opening to China, it is clear to see they tried to accommodate for the higher class Chinese citizens that would be their main demographic of consumers. Whilst it is fine to make a Chinese styled ad as many have done before, I believe they made a serious error in judgement by what they released. The ad features a very prettied up Asian model trying to eat very culturally Italian cuisine with chopsticks. The ad is dubbed over by a man with a stereo typically thick Asian accent which constantly makes light of the issue of trying to eat various foods with chopsticks. The main issue that me and many other friends share with the video is the sentiment they tried to express that Asian culture is inferior to the western culture they are introducing, the chopsticks are symbolic of the traditional Asian lifestyle many citizens share which is why it is completely disrespectful when they relentlessly mock and laugh at the seeming impracticality of the chopsticks. It represents the opinion that western culture is advanced and exquisite and the current culture and lifestyle of these Chinese people is simply too primitive to enjoy the joys of western food as well as culture. Whilst I can respect the tenet of their ad being that they are trying to establish a counter culture, or further enhance one, their method in how the company are achieving that is appalling and backfired massively. What I truly don’t appreciate is that this advertisement passed through many many different levels of employees and executives in D&G who didn’t find anything wrong with it and how the company might have embellished the idea that “any news is good news” and the controversy surrounding it may have brought more Chinese citizens closer to the company. This framework for thought, of act now and apologise later is extremely disrespectful and crude when considering the consequences and depictions within the ads. This apparent mentality coupled with the alleged Instagram messages sent by the owners as well as their, personally, very empty apology video solidifies in my mind that they don’t particularly care about respecting the culture but instead promoting their brand. This is a textbook example of how a company seriously missed the mark with a campaign, and more broadly, how people can so easily totally ostracise and misrepresent whole cultures.
