Dolce & Gabbana’s branding is now at an all time low after its racist Chinese ad scandal.
According to The Drum, Dolce & Gabbana’s branding is now at a record low in China following its racist ad scandal.
Data collected by YouGov shows that Dolce & Gabbana has fallen 14.1 points with Chinese consumers from +3.3 to -11.4.
In the controversial advert titled ‘Eat with Your Chopsticks’ an Asian woman is seen struggling to eat Italian food including pasta, pizza and cannolis with traditional chopsticks. “Is it too huge for you?” asks the male narrator.
Co-founder Stefano Gabbana then defended the advert saying, “if the Chinese feel offended by a girl who spells [sic] pizza or pasta with chopsticks means that those Chinese feel inferior… and then it’s a problem not ours!”
In another message, the 56-year-old said, “the country of (poop emoji) is China,” and then wrote, “China Ignorant Dirty Smelling Mafia.”
This triggered many in China including Crouching Tiger star Zhang Ziyi to boycott the Italian brand.
YouGov reported a spike in those seeing the brand’s ads from +1.1 to +12.1. However, the increase held negative sentiments.
Its buzz score, which shows people’s perception of the brand plummeted from +6.5, to -15 in just under two weeks.
“Whatever its motivation for releasing them, it seems as though Chinese consumers have noticed D&G’s questionable ads,” said Ervin Ha, the head of data products for the Asia Pacific at YouGov.
“While its awareness might have increased, it is to the detriment of its brand health. It remains to be seen how long the downward trend continues and whether the company can salvage its brand image in the eyes of Chinese consumers.”
