The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

John Barrowman Victoria Beckham Elton John

Elton John's #BoycottDolceGabbana stands against #BoycottEltonJohn on Twitter after fashion duo's ‘synthetic’ baby comment

Author

By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

March 16, 2015 | 5 min read

A number of celebrities and hundreds of social media users have announced they will boycott Dolce and Gabbana products after the designer duo spoke out against gay relationships and IVF babies.

Speaking in Italian magazine 'Panorama', the pair said: "We oppose gay adoptions, the only family is the traditional one, no chemical offsprings and rented uterus: life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed," adding, "I call children of chemistry, synthetic children. Rented uterus, semen chosen from a catalogue".

In response to the comments, musician Elton John, who has conceived two children using IVF treatments, sparked a ban of the fashion company's products with an Instagram post.

The movement reached critical mass at the weekend and has trended on Twitter for over 48 hours with the hashtag #BoycottDolceGabbana. Using the tag, musician Ricky Martin tweeted his distaste at D&G's comments.

As did Victoria Beckham.

Actor John Barrowman.

And Courtney Love,

The pair has since issued a statement, Gabbana said: “We firmly believe in democracy and the fundamental principle of freedom of expression that upholds it. We talked about our way of seeing reality, but it was never our intention to judge other people’s choices. We do believe in freedom and love."

Dolce added: “I’m Sicilian and I grew up in a traditional family, made up of a mother, a father and children. I am very well aware of the fact that there are other types of families and they are as legitimate as the one I’ve known. But in my personal experience, family had a different configuration. That is the place where I learnt the values of love and family.

Concluding: "I was talking about my personal view, without judging other people’s choices and decisions.”

As a backlash to the ban, Stefano Gabbana tried to kickstart the #BoycottEltonJohn campaign from his Instagram account - although it has failed to trend on the social network since.

John Barrowman Victoria Beckham Elton John

More from John Barrowman

View all

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +