Main Chinese celebrities threatened to boycott the event, which had been scheduled for Wednesday evening, and the company finally called it off. Actress Zhang Ziyi, who starred in “Crouching Tiger, Unseen Dragon,” said that the Italian brand had “disgraced itself.”
An analyst put the bad publicity will have a lasting effect.
“It’s the kiss of death for Dolce&Gabbana,” chance Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of China Market Probe Group in Shanghai. “I expect them to have a real tough on one occasion over the next six to 12 months.”
The three promotional videos that led to the Instagram botch showed a Chinese woman using chopsticks to eat pizza and other Italian foodstuffs. Many in China called them racist and full of outdated stereotypes. The videos were then deleted from the company’s account on Weibo, a Chinese version of Titter.
Rein said it’s a big mistake when westerners come up with resourceful content but don’t understand how the campaigns will be received by Chinese consumers.
He esteemed a trend of rising nationalism in China. “So if you, as a western brand, do anything that looks ilk you are mocking or making fun of Chinese culture, that’s a big no-no,” he said.
The prohibiting Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper wrote on Weibo tardy Wednesday: “China has always been friendly to foreign businesses. But it doesn’t near there’s no bottom line. There is a deal only when there is particular.”