One of the most popular Italian fashion brands, Dolce & Gabbana is facing the wrath of the Chinese government and its residents. The D&G controversy started when the brand's new ad campaign was criticised by Diet Prada for promoting racism. Their advertisement shows a Chinese model struggling to eat Italian delicacies with chopsticks. The situation intensified when Diet Prada leaked chats of Stefano Gabbana where he called 'China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia'. Of course, the brand insists that their account was hacked but the damage was already done. Dolce &Gabbana Controversy: Cops Seize Passports of Over 200 Employees Working on Their Shanghai Fashion Show After the Racism Scandal in China.

Following the news of Stefana Gabbana's insensitive and abusive comments, Chinese authorities decided to cancel its upcoming fashion show in Shanghai. And many celebrities in the country condemned the incident and vowed to never use the brand's products. The controversy further took an ugly turn when popular retail sites in China stopped selling D&G products. China’s Kaola, an e-commerce platform confirmed it had removed Dolce & Gabbana products while the luxury goods retailer Secoo said it had removed the brand’s listings on Wednesday evening. Joining them were other retail sites like Net-a-Porter, Alibaba.com and  JD.com who too refused to sell their products on their sites. Dolce & Gabbana Called Out for Their Racist Ad by Diet Prada, Forced to Cancel Shanghai Fashion Show.

This is not the first time when D&G triggered the harsh reactions from Chinese people. Last year, a series of their ads had shown the grungy side of Chinese life and that was heavily criticised. The Communist party’s youth league said on Weibo, “We welcome foreign companies to invest and develop in China ... companies working in the country should respect China and Chinese people.”

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 23, 2018 11:51 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).