Introduction to the Issue:
This case study highlights the problem of Dolce & Gabbana (D&G) and their recent marketing campaign that was perceived as racist. This caused the Italian clothing maker to cancel an upcoming fashion show in Shanghai. Moreover, JD.com and Alibaba has removed products of D&G Company over allegations of discrimination and racism. For instance, the fashion brand of Italy has started to launch videos featuring Chinese woman eating pizza with chopsticks. On the other hand, the Chinese population feels the company was discriminatory towards Chinese women and the issue went viral on social media and raised accusations of racism. Celebrities have called boycott D&G products; therefore, D&G sales are likely to have reduced due to the alleged racist marketing campaign.
Effective Measures that can be taken to reduce the impact of the crisis:
It is important for businesses to carry out operations according to the cultural values of other countries. A simple apology is not enough as there is a need of adopting and promoting local cultural values. As it is known, promotional campaigns play a role in attracting customers along with satisfying need for consumers to find products. Therefore, adopting an effective marketing campaign is important to have sustainable operations in a globalized business environment. It is suggested that D&G should change its promotional campaign by accepting the mistake along with adding cultural values from China in future advertisements if, necessary.
D&G’s apologies are not enough to control the sharp drop in company’s sale and profitability. China is the world’s second largest economy and provides one third of the total global luxury sales. International brands like D&G should have taken cultural awareness measures before launching or designing branding for Chinese consumers. Chinese citizens have burned their D&G clothing and used D&G products products to clean their toilets. These activities display their anger because the company had attacked their cultural values. We recommend that the CEO should run an advertisement campaign by promoting Chinese culture with an apology.
D&G should use effective advertising campaigns that can help to attract the customers along with ensuring that the brand provide quality products. To manage this crisis, it is essential to utilize effective and attractive advertisement to develop good relationship with the customers. The company should develop a contract with the Chinese Market Research Center to build a good relationship. The advertisement will encourage the Chinese population to show more tolerance in order to provide an open business market environment where the international brands can run their successful business. Hopefully, the apology would be accepted by the Chinese population and the company would set an agreement to promote Chinese cultural and traditional values for the future promotional campaigns.
Conclusion
We can conclude that companies, big or small, should focus on the cultural and political aspects of other countries while designing ads and products for their international consumers. More specifically, it is important for D&G to start an advertisement program that will promote Chinese culture within the China’s marketplace.
