Advertisement Essay Sample

The Effect of Dolce & Gabbana’s China Video Ad on Their Company and Branding

Introduction

Dolce and Gabbana, famously known as the powerhouse of Italian fashion, uploaded a very controversial ad in November 2018 in which Asian models were struggling to eat Italian dishes with chopsticks. When this ad was released, there was a lot of criticism. There was an instant uproar on Chinese social media blaming Dolce and Gabbana for the ad being culturally insulting. Instant blacklisting of the brand from China happened, including cancellation of shows, and there was a direct effect on the market thereafter (Meyer, 2018).

Chinese people’s reaction

Some Chinese people filmed themselves destroying the clothes made by the brand and uploaded them on Chinese social media platforms. There were a few celebrities as well who canceled their contracts and vowed to never wear the brand again. Even after three years of controversy, the brand still suffers the consequences of the backlash. After the ad was released, Chinese people got more upset when Stefano Gabbana, co-founder of the brand made offensive remarks on Chinese culture and when it was leaked on social media, he outrightly denied it, at first calling it a misunderstanding. Later he did apologize for the hurtful remarks but it didn’t make any difference and it still doesn’t for the Chinese people. The Asian model who was hired for the ad faced a lot of issues after the release and even mentioned in an interview that this ad nearly ended her career (Tyler, 2020).

 The retail market of the brand in China

The retail market of the brand in China has been on the path of downfall even after so much time. The number of boutiques of the brand has fallen to 47 from 58 in three years. A lot of Chinese e-retailers like Tmall still have the label banned on their websites. The Asia-pacific market of the brand faced a dip of 3% between 2018 and 2019. Since the controversy, not even a single celebrity has signed the brand and they still seem to be unforgiving.

There were a lot of issues behind this controversy. One of them was false cultural assumptions. The Chinese market has always been seen as a hub for luxury brands but before making cultural assumptions, proper fieldwork should have been done. The brand has always used humor as their selling point in the ads but when it comes to culture, people’s sentiments should have been kept in mind. After the controversy happened, it clearly stated the feeble handling of the situation by the PR of the brand and weak communication between the consumers and the spokesperson of the brand. The handling at this time of the crisis should have been better. A lot of other countries were also offended by the ad and it had a similar effect on their retail markets. These countries were Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, etc (Hills, 2021).

 Conclusion

In the future, the brand should be well prepared for a crisis and be able to handle it well. The brand is already doing a lot of efforts to win back Chinese markets but they have so far been in vain. The backlash of the ad was so huge that the fire is still burning in the form of boycotting products, canceling shows, Chinese celebrities not participating in brand advertising, no big names from China attending any global event related to the brand, outlets being shut down, dip in the market share, etc. It is vividly seen that D&G cannot afford to lose their name in the Chinese market and will be working its way up to make amends.

Works Cited

Hills, M. C. (2021). Three years after ad controversy, D&G is still struggling to win back China. CNN.

Meyer, W. (2018). Can Dolce & Gabbana Recover from Its Mistakes in China? Knowledge @ Wharton.

Tyler, D. C. (2020). Culture in communication: Dolce & Gabbana’s Chopsticks Backlash. University of Naples “L’Orientale”.

 Advertising Essay Outline

Let’s take a closer look at the features of preparing a paper. Like any other essay, an advertising essay should have a certain structure:

•  introduction, where it is necessary to formulate a thesis (the author’s attitude to the problem)
•  the body, in which you give arguments to prove the thesis
•  conclusion, which summarizes the results of the work.

Depending on the rules of a particular university, the essay may also include a title page and a list of sources.

How to Write a Paper like the Ad Essay Example Presented 

Let’s check out some tips that will help you get a high grade for your essay:

1. As arguments for an essay, you can use well-known facts, scientific experiments, statistics, and statements of authoritative marketers. It is better not to refer to fiction books or films or personal experience.
2. If your essay is dedicated to advertising a specific product, company or brand, carefully study all official documentation that is publicly available. It will help you better understand the marketing strategy and correctly compose the thesis.
3. Use additional sources (modern textbooks, scientific publications, etc.). Advertising is a dynamically changing field, so one textbook may not be enough.
4. Pay attention to the correct formatting of quotations; do not forget about references and footnotes, so that you are not accused of violating academic ethics.
5. Make sure that the conclusions do not contradict the thesis that you formulated in the introduction.

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