Dolce & Gabbana ($PRIVATE:DOLCEGABBANA) is still hemorrhaging followers on massive Chinese social media platform Weibo months after its major advertising snafu involving China.
The controversial ad campaign included videos of Chinese people attempting to eat western food with chopsticks and was considered racist by many. It came around the same time as a leaked audio file hit the internet that included G&B co-founder Stefano Gabbana making racist remarks. It all added up to make Chinese consumers understandably angry. As a result, Dolce & Gabbana's Weibo profile has lost followers to the tune of 4.86% since the events unfolded. This all comes in the Chinese consumer market that is hungry for western luxury brands.
Along with consumer protests both online and in real life, Chinese media have also boycotted the luxury fashion brand. At D&G's show in Milan, only a handful of Chinese outlets attended the event, and those that did were only there to support the brand's public relations team with no intention of posting anything to social media.
Dolce & Gabbana also declining on a global scale.
The brand's public image isn't just hurting in China, it's also on the decline on other social media websites such as Twitter. Since November 26, its social media following dropped by as much as .19%, which amounts to tens of thousands of followers.
Fortunately for Dolce & Gabbana, its Twitter profile bounced back by mid-February, and currently sits over 5,254,000 followers.
There is also some real world context to be paired with this data: at this year's Oscars, Dolce & Gabbana was nearly non-existent on the red carpet. Several notable designers had plenty to say about the brand's history of controversy, including Jason Bolden who believes Stefano Gabbana really "showed us many times who he is" and doesn't think the brand can recover.
