Dolce & Gabbana asks for forgiveness after Chinese racism furore
Dolce & Gabbana has released a video apology to China following the backlash around its “DG Loves China” campaign and subsequent racist comments made by one of the luxury brand's founders.
Stefano Gabbana and co-founder Domenico Dolce in the video ask the people of China to forgive them for their mistake, claiming it will never happen again, and that they will try to do better and respect Chinese culture in all respects.
Both said: "Over the past few days we have thought very much with great regret to what has happened to us, and what we have done to your country, and we apologise very much. Our families have always taught us to respect the various cultures of the world, and for this, we want to apologise if we have made mistakes in interpreting your culture. We also want to apologise to all Chinese people in the world and we take this message very seriously.
"We have always been very in love with China, we have visited many cities, we love your culture and certainly we still have much to learn, for this we apologise. If we made mistakes in the ways we expressed ourselves. From the depths of our heart, we apologise.
The apology follows a major backlash against the brand in China, which has seen Dolce & Gabbana products dropped from Alibaba, JD.com, Yoox Net-A-Porter, Amazon China, among a host of other e-commerce sites. Dolce & Gabbana's fashion show in Shanghai was cancelled by the Government and security guards were posted outside Dolce & Gabbana stores as a precaution.
This is not the first time D&G has drawn flak for its first time “DG Love China” campaign. In April 2017, the brand published a post on Weibo and WeChat about a campaign which focused on the capital city Beijing by showing its underdeveloped parts and impoverished residents. The brand also deleted the post after complaints.
Earlier, a joint report by the Boston Consulting Group and Chinese Internet giant Tencent, stated that by 2024, the compound annual growth rate of China’s personal luxury goods market will reach 6%, and Chinese consumers will contribute 40% of the global luxury goods market, driving the global market by 75%.