China's anger towards D&G continues to ferment

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China is still seething with anger over Dolce & Gabbana (D&G)'s controversial ad campaign ahead of a now cancelled-show in Shanghai and amid racism accusations, with a string of statements by the brand on Instagram flaring up the already tense situation.

In the past 24 hours, the Italian luxury brand scraped its show, titled "The Great Show", its collections were removed from Chinese e-commerce platforms and shops in Italy turned into protest sites – but the situation is far from being defused.

On Thursday afternoon, while responding to an Italian reporter's question, Geng Shuang, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the D&G incident is not a diplomatic matter between China and Italy.

"I suggest you ask the Chinese people for their opinions about the matter rather than asking the Chinese Foreign Ministry," Geng said.

The stage for the fashion show is dismantled in Shanghai. /VCG Photo

The incident broke out on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Wednesday afternoon, after clips from the ad campaign "DG Loves China" sparked outrage for feeding into Chinese stereotypes and featuring messages and visuals that poked fun at Chinese heritage.

The situation took a turn for the worse after the brand's co-founder Stefano Gabbana used insulting words against China and the Chinese culture while responding to questions about the controversial ad campaign on Instagram.

Chinese models taking part in the show announced they're exiting the event in the wake of the commotion, followed by a number of Chinese celebrities who said they won't attend it.

Some of them reportedly bought a return ticket to leave Shanghai as soon as their plane touched down.

Chinese actors Dilreba Dilmurat and Wang Junkai, the brand's ambassadors, respectively announced that they have terminated their collaboration with D&G.

A still from the controversial ad promo. /Weibo Photo

On Wednesday evening, with the hashtag #D&GRacism picking up steam on Chinese social media, at least eight online commercial platforms, including Tmall, JD.com and Suning.com removed all D&G products.

As of now, nearly all major online marketing channels of D&G are blocked in China.

D&G has issued several statements on the company's Instagram account in the hope of appeasing the angry crowd.

However, they did exactly the opposite.

D&G claimed its social media accounts and that of designer Stefano Gabbana were hacked, adding that they "have nothing but respect for China and the people of China." But Chinese netizens were not sold on that.

A screenshot of the statement on D&G Instagram account. /Instagram Photo

In their latest statement, the brand denied being racist, claiming that they not only "pay tribute a lot of times to China or Japan," but also have "Chinese models on their shows runways" or ads.

"The arrogance is in their bones and blood. I never bought anything from their stores before, and will never buy anything either in the future," said a Weibo user.

"I don't think he is even trying to apologize. The words are full of complaining and dissatisfaction. If their turnover and market share were not affected now, they wouldn't even try to explain," read another comment on Weibo.

A screenshot of D&G's second statement on Instagram. /Instagram Photo

Another Weibo user said "the response itself was racism."

On D&G's official Instagram account, Chinese users' call for boycotting the brand was backed by many international voices.

"Shame on you DG! You bent on China's wallet on the one hand, but insult its people on the other," user @andre-ree commented. "Everyone can perfectly live without your fashion, not just the Chinese people who you just lost as customers, but also people from other nationalities including me as a German."

"I'm not Chinese but I'll stand up for them! Their culture is one of the oldest in the world. Who are you trying to mock it?!" read another comment.

A screenshot of the brand's third statement. /Photo via Weibo

"You guys were insulting people who has chopsticks in their culture. As a Japanese I am so mad about this too! There is no any country or any culture better than others. Learn to respect," a user named @jacsontatagi commented.

This is not the first time the Italian brand came under fire for controversial promos. Last year, a set of their photos taken on Beijing streets also misfired for suspectedly mocking Chinese people in their daily life.

Back in 2012, the brand's photo ban in Hong Kong's Canton Road store also enraged the locals.

D&G store in Shanghai. /VCG Photo

D&G has around 58 stores in China, including Wuxi, Shanghai, Qingdao, Guangzhou and Tianjin.

According to local reports, the staff in the stores haven't received any information about the future operation of their business. However, many expect that foot-traffic would significantly suffer after the incident.