Chinese e-commerce platforms pulled Dolce & Gabbana products after the luxury brand triggered a backlash over advertisements widely condemned as racist in 2018.
NetEase’s Kaola said it had removed the brand’s products, while Secoo said it took down Dolce & Gabbana listings on Wednesday evening. Reuters checks on Thursday morning found that pages previously linking to the brand on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and JD.com Inc were no longer accessible, and searches returned no results.
The dispute began after the company released ads showing a Chinese woman struggling to eat pizza and spaghetti with chopsticks. The campaign drew immediate criticism online, and the controversy intensified when screenshots circulated that appeared to show designer Stefano Gabbana making negative remarks about China.
The issue spread quickly on Weibo, where it drew more than 120 million views. Dolce & Gabbana later canceled a Shanghai fashion show on Wednesday and issued an apology on Weibo, saying both Gabbana’s and the brand’s accounts had been hacked.
Several public figures joined the criticism. Actress Zhang Ziyi condemned the brand, while singer Wang Junkai said he had ended his ambassador agreement. The backlash also prompted boycott calls, and an airport duty-free shop in Haikou said on Weibo that it had removed all Dolce & Gabbana products from its shelves.
The Communist Party Youth League, the youth wing of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, said on Weibo: “we welcome foreign companies to invest and develop in China... companies working in the country should respect China and Chinese people”.
Alibaba and JD.com did not respond to requests for comment, and the company also did not comment on the e-commerce removals.
