A new Dolce & Gabbana ad is causing controversy in Spain. The Spanish government found that the ad, from the designers' spring/summer men’s campaign which features four foxy men, one pinning down a foxy lady, promoted violence against women. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were outraged by Spain’s censorship, and pulled their whole campaign from the country.
This report upset me because I LOVE Dolce & Gabbana ads, more than I ever really liked their clothes. And although I seem to keep playing devil’s advocate to the advertising industry on this blog, I really sincerely believe the contrary to Spain’s allegations. I find Dolce & Gabbana ads to be more progressive on gender roles than most designers.
What immediately comes to mind is a story Dolce & Gabbana did for the February issue of W Magazine. In this 22-page spread, we see a variety of sexy poses, with girls on girls, boys on girls, boys on boys, two girls with two boys, two boys with one girl, etc. We even see Stefano Gabbana himself, lying on a bed in a pair of briefs with his thighs spread and stilettos on his feet.
In my mind, Dolce & Gabbana most effectively manage to simultaneously objectify men and women in their ads. While I’m sure many would argue that is hardly progressive, I find it to be refreshing, enlightening and oh so Italian. I would love to see more ads with men in briefs and stilettos.
Jonas Pelli @ Sat, 03/17/2007 - 1:39pm
Politics suck... But I agree, D&G are equal opportunity objectifyers. Men could bring up the same issues with some of their other ads using the same arguments.