After Dolce & Gabbana's controversial ad about Chinese culture and Stefano Gabbana's alleged negative comment about China, the country's biggest e-commerce sites removed all the brand's products from its stores. Tmall, JD.com, Xiaohongshu, and Secco decided not to sell the fashion house's goods in protest of the 56-year-old's remark that the nation is "country of s***."
Chinese netizens called Stefano Gabbana's comment a "racist outburst. They, along with celebrities and other personalities, also found its "DG Loves China" video campaign racist for featuring a woman eating Italian dishes using chopsticks.
According to the South China Morning Post, China's e-commerce platforms play an important role in Dolce & Gabbana's retail marketing in the country. Consumers can easily find and buy the luxury brand's products in these sites. Now, not even a single good can be seen there.
China is known as a "major market for luxury brands." In fact, Bain & Company noted that Chinese consumers buy 33 percent of global luxury goods. The figures are even expected to go as high as 46 percent by 2025.
No one can see a Dolce & Gabbana product on Tmall, JD.com, Secco, and Xiaohongshu or also known as Red, which also removed user's posts related to the brand when clients try to search for the fashion house on their sites. "The interests of our motherland cannot be infringed upon," a Xiaohongshu spokeswoman said about its move.
The spokeswoman explained that they based their "collaborations on mutual respect." As they welcome all the brands to do business in China, it is expecting that they would respect the country. Tmall and JD.com are yet to issue their comments about their move to remove Dolce & Gabbana products as of this writing. Secco's spokesman gave no further statement about the issue.
Communist Party, on the other hand, said that the company that only wants to gain profit from China, but doesn't respect its people is about to go broke. With Chinese consumers' growing purchases of luxury brands in the country, it is a big loss for Dolce & Gabbana.
The Economic Times reported that the public outcry started when screenshots of Stefano Gabbana and an Instagram user's argument emerged online. The snap showed the Dolce & Gabbana co-founder made a derogatory remark about China.
Later, Dolce & Gabbana issued a public apology on Weibo, claiming Gabbana and the brand's account got hacked. However, the damage has been done as A-list celebrities like Zhang Ziyi criticized the brand's move. Also, Wang Junkai immediately terminated his contract as the fashion house's ambassador.
There are also a number of groups that call out to boycott Dolce & Gabbana in China. In support of the move, an airport duty-free shop in the southern Chinese city of Haikou revealed it already removed all of the luxury brand's products from its shelves. Either of the company and Gabbana have issued an official statement about their goods' removal.
