China's e-commerce giants pull D&G after racist tirade
A woman walks past a Dolce & Gabbana shop on Huaihai Road M. in Shanghai on November 21, 2018.
Dolce & Gabbana goods have disappeared from Chinese e-commerce sites as the fallout grows over remarks insulting to China that were apparently made on two of its Instagram accounts.
The company has blamed hackers.
Searches for Dolce & Gabbana turned up no items on major online retailers such as Alibaba’s Tmall and JD.com.
The moves came one day after several screenshots were circulated online showing co-founder Stefano Gabbana referring to China with crude terms and emoji as he defended promotional videos, including one that showed a woman eating pizza with chopsticks, that had sparked controversy earlier. The comments were made in a private message exchange with another Instagram user. Separately, the Dolce & Gabbana account used offensive language in another exchange.
The Italian fashion house apologized and said both accounts had been hacked.
“We have nothing but respect for China and the people of China,” it wrote.
The apology appears too late.
“It’s the kiss of death for Dolce & Gabbana,” said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai.
Rein added it is a big mistake when Westerners come up with creative content but don’t understand how it will be received by Chinese consumers.
