Dolce & Gabbana forced to pull 'sexist and violent' advertisement

By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid

Published: 24 February 2007

Dolce & Gabbana are wowing the fashion world on the catwalks of Milan, but feminists in Spain have condemned their latest advertising campaign as sexist and violent, throwing the flamboyant duo into a hissy fit and prompting withdrawal of the images.

The ads, which appeared in Spain on Monday, show a half-naked man holding a scantily clad woman to the ground by her wrists while four predatory hunks look on. Spain's Women's Institute, a government organisation linked to the Labour Ministry, described the scene as offensive to women's dignity and an incitement to sexual violence.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, hailed as the high priests of tart chic, announced they would drop their campaign in Spain and covered their retreat with acid-drenched sneers. "We will withdraw that photo from the Spanish market alone, since they are behind the times. What does an artistic photo have to do with the real world?" If Spanish views held sway, "you'd have to burn museums like the Louvre and all the paintings of Caravaggio", they added.

But Spanish women objected not to the supposed sensuality or eroticism but the image's glorification of sexual violence. "The advert suggests it is acceptable to use force as a way of imposing oneself on a woman, reinforced by the passive complicity of the men looking on," the Labour Ministry said.

This was a complaint consistent with efforts of a generation of Spanish women to resist being treated as sexually compliant airheads. The polemic coincides with increasing awareness in Spain of the seriousness of crimes of violence against females. Ten women have died at the hands of violent men in the past seven weeks.

The day that D&G's provocative photo hit Spain's headlines, Maria del Carmen Valdericeda, from the village of Orusco de Tajuna 30 miles south-west of Madrid, was run over several times by a vehicle allegedly driven by her former partner Alejandro Martin, leaving her mortally wounded. Her family had reported Mr Martin to the police "for insults and threats to run her over". He was arrested on Thursday.

No one argues that the photo and the murder are linked, but the Italian designers stepped into dangerous terrain when they launched their provocative images in Spain. The socialist government recently introduced a law protecting women against sexual violence. And a "publicity law" forbids "any advert ... that presents women in a harassing way, either using their body or parts of their body as mere objects unrelated to the product it is supposed to promote".

Last month, a D&G campaign featuring bloodstained models brandishing knives was banned in Britain after the Advertising Standards Authority received scores of complaints that the pictures glorified violence. The ads appeared in newspapers alongside stories about mounting British gun crime.

The Italian pair, displaying the fashionistas' lofty contempt for concerns in the real world, said at the time they wanted to create only the theatrical aesthetic of the Napoleonic period. They similarly seem to have failed to understand the message sent by Spanish critics. "Next year," the designers joked yesterday, "we'll mount a publicity campaign showing a naked woman on top of a man."

source: news.independent.co uk

the ad

Oh come on! That ad is sensual, not sexist!

this is that ad

actually second time when i looked at it, after OMGBiancadoesforDolceGabbanaawsome i thought the same but i thought this topic is too serious and too sore to discuss about it here.

i was afraid to be misunderstood finally, well at least someone thinks like me

Oh come on! That ad is sensual, not sexist!

but it really looks like raping, it was the second idea i thought about this ad

i love D&G they are genius, i know they didn't reach it, sometimes it just happends

Oh pfft like that's bad.

yah oh please....it looks like she is liking it to me!...you can't rape the willing. Adam Senn and Evandro can "hold me down" anyday.

women can do anything they want...i'm all about that.

but feminists are a bunch of fat old s****s on their periodes- eric cartman

any publicity is good publicity...and this is going to shoot D&G into the spotlight for the next month. Filthy ad campaigns are hot!

I am a feminist and I am not offended by it. There are far worse things than this.

However, I have sense Domenico and Stefano did this all on purpose for publicity.

actually second time when i looked at it, after OMGBiancadoesforDolceGabbanaawsome i thought the same but i thought this topic is too serious and too sore to discuss about it here.

i was afraid to be misunderstood finally, well at least someone thinks like me

It's actually Shannan Click

I am a feminist and I am not offended by it. There are far worse things than this.

However, I have sense Domenico and Stefano did this all on purpose for publicity.

I absolutely agree

Dom & Stef are geniuses

I love the whole campaign, including that particular ad

Here is a bigger version

P your filthy!....i love this whole campaign too....i love the shots with all the camera's and stuff. D&G are so smart....this reminds me of the ad with gisele in the room full of tv's and she was all oiled up...it also remind of the campaign by tom ford for gucci with adam senn and carmen kass with the G shaved in to her pubies and adam has her bent over his knee

work it out

^ That Gucci ad was gold

P your filthy!....i love this whole campaign too....i love the shots with all the camera's and stuff. D&G are so smart....this reminds me of the ad with gisele in the room full of tv's and she was all oiled up...it also remind of the campaign by tom ford for gucci with adam senn and carmen kass with the G shaved in to her pubies and adam has her bent over his knee

work it out

Being in the advertising business makes you view media and consumerism differently. Not saying it makes you heartless b/c there are boundaries, but you view things in a bigger perspective.

Always, remember buzz is a very powerful thing.

tha ad is just...... DAMN I WOULD KILL TO BE THAT WOMAN!!!!

See, the women who object to seeing those types of advertisements are like the members of this community:

http://www.livejournal.com/community/kissmyass_cosmo

They honestly believe that Victoria's Secret is doing some great disservice to women by featuring models that are tan, thin, busty and have large hair. Aren't there more serious matters to get worked up over?

These women need to suck it up and get over it.

yeh the model looks like shes liking it to me and its pretty sexy if it didnt have the other guys standing there like pervs and i see nothing wrong with it altho the models brandishing knives is abit over the top but then again thats designers for you

those chicks on that live journal are bunch of uglies....like its Adriana Lima's fault she is a genetic gift and looks better then almost everyone. Get over it not everyone can be that beautiful. What a bunch of whack jobs.

maybe i'm just biased cause evandro is in that ad. He seem pretty perfect to me....i dont think he has had an plastic surg.

People should start to be really less conservative and be more open minded <_< It's just advertising :)Anyway i love D&G they really are the clowns in the fashion industry wich i totally like about them

Oh come on! That ad is sensual, not sexist!

but it really looks like raping, it was the second idea i thought about this ad

i love D&G they are genius, i know they didn't reach it, sometimes it just happends

I agree totally. I never much thought about the ad till my husband of all people passed by the puter and did a double take and said something along the lines of . "wtf o.0 . Gangbang? Rape... fashion.. O... k... "