When Luxury Brands Really F'ed Up Trying to Break Into China

[BG2008]

It's no secret that the Chinese consumer is a huge market for luxury items.  Dolce and Gabanna just f'ed up big time with their cringe worthy promo videos.  This is a real time public relationships nightmare for a luxury brand trying to win the wallets of the Chinese consumer.  Holy F! What were they thinking? 

 

I think Dolce and Gabbanna should be renamed "Douche and Goombas"

 

 

This probably will make the list of the all time top blunders due to cultural insensitivity.  That Cannoli was very phallic and they called the chopsticks these little wooden stick like instruments.  WTF???  I think people are generally over sensitive in the US. But the bar to offend people is much lower when you are dealing with your customers.  It's how they feel what you perceive as appropriate or not. 

[SHDL]

This reminds me of when Federica Marchionni, a D&G alumna, took the helm at Lands’ End and did this:

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/01/business/catalog-interview-with-gloria-steinem-has-lands-end-on-its-heels.html

 

Probably unrelated, but it makes me wonder if cultural insensitivity is in the company’s DNA. 

[rb]

I thought they were always Douche and Goombas. I don't even know who or why they buy their clothes. Not that classy. I always thought that the D&G client is someone with no class that just won the lottery.

 

Needless to say, I think the Chinese won't soon forget this.

[BG2008]

I thought they were always Douche and Goombas. I don't even know who or why they buy their clothes. Not that classy. I always thought that the D&G client is someone with no class that just won the lottery.

 

Needless to say, I think the Chinese won't soon forget this.

 

To be fair, there are a lot of people in China who kind of just won the lottery and don't have much class or education (I'm Chinese).  Yes, DG is very douchey

[DooDiligence]

This not a luxury brand.

 

Luxury is quiet & understated.

 

Here's a vidi that prob exemplifies their base.

 

 

If you Google "Dolce & Gabbana Asshole" you'll find out what a clueless pair of douches the founders are.

[Spekulatius]

A long time ago, Rolls Royce tried to sell a car model named “Silver Mist” in Germany. It flopped big time and it took the British a bit to find out why - the name “Mist” in German means “Shit” or more precisely “dung”.

[Gregmal]

I saw this and actually found it quite amusing. No, not the content itself. But rather watching it and trying to figure out how many dozens of people, most likely making six figures plus, spent what was likely millions of dollars of corporate resources, and THIS is what they came up with? Holy incompetence! If this isn't proof that anybody can make a lot of money, than I don't know what is. I can't see how their entire team working on this isn't fired because the fact that this ENTIRE thing got this far means that EVERY ONE OF THEM has questionable judgment.

 

As for D&G itself, IDK, I've never been a fan of their style, although I've never been a fan of any brand you pay 10x or more of the normal price for an every day item. I've bought Ferragamo shoes and Burberry wallets, and frankly they suck compared to my $65 New Balance shoes and $35 I forget the brand wallet. Only crazy expensive item I've found actually worth the tag relative to it's cheaper competitors are Yeti coolers.

[LC]

The trick with luxury brands is not talking to the people who buy the product but the people who wish they could.

[Spekulatius]

The Chinese are not missing out on much. I have never heard of Dolce and Gabbana before, but the stuff on their website looks terrible. It looks like cheap chic to me.