Dolce and Gabbana have caused outrage again as they ridiculed Chinese people with a series of three Instagram ad campaigns released this week, followed by controversial online comments.
One of the Instagram ads showed a Chinese model attempting to eat Italian food with a pair of chopsticks. Another shows a Chinese man eating cannoli with the narrator asking “is it too big for you?”
All three ads are set in in a highly stereotypical-looking Chinese market stall and feature music from a Chinese violin.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqSVTskiM1n/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Instagram users then began to fill the comments sections with the hashtag #racist.
One Chinese student from UC Berkley wrote an open letter addressed to the luxury fashion brand, saying “The three episodes depict a Chinese lady eating Western dishes in an extremely racist, apparent condescending and offensive way.”
She labelled the ads “painful and disrespectful” and recommended that the company release a statement apologising for the offence caused.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqVixsHA1a4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The outrage escalated when comments that appeared to be from Stefano Gabbana leaked.
Diet Prada, an Instagram account that airs the fashion industry’s dirty laundry, posted screenshots of DMs that appear to be from a conversation between model Michaela Tranova and Stefano Gabbana himself. The screenshot shows Gabbana calling China a “dirty smelling mafia”.
Another account called anthxnyxo also posted screenshots of a conversation between himself and Dolce and Gabbana’s official Instagram account, with one message showing the fashion brand saying “Ni hao stupid bye.”
Dolce and Gabanna have since claimed that their Instagram account was hacked and that their legal team is currently investigating the incident.
Their Shanghai fashion show, which was estimated to have cost the company millions, has since been cancelled.
This is not the first time Dolce and Gabbana have caused such outrage. In 2015, the pair came out against same-sex parenting, saying, “the only family is the traditional one.”
The pair sparked a feud with legendary singer Elton John, whose children were born through IVF when they labelled children born in such a way ‘synthetic’.
“I’ve realized that my words were inappropriate,” Dolce told Vogue a year after the controversial comments.
Earlier this year, Gabbana trolled singer Selena Gomez, calling her “ugly” in an Instagram comment on a post by The Catwalk Italia.
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