Tweet
Dolce & Gabbana & A Big Problem
Dolce & Gabbana Slammed For Rape Suggestive Ad
Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana has slammed Spain as being 'behind the times.'
Spain's Labour and Social Affairs Ministry says the Dolce & Gabbana Spring-Sunmmer 2007 advertisement, which shows a man holding a woman to the ground by her wrists while a group of men look on, was illegal and humiliating to women, saying the woman's body position had no relation to the products Dolce & Gabbana were trying to sell.
"One could infer from the advertisement that it is acceptable to use force as a way of imposing oneself on a woman, reinforced by the passive and complicit manner of the men looking on," the ministry said in a statement.
Now Dolce & Gabbana plans to pull the advertisement.
"We will only withdraw this photo from the Spanish market. They're a bit behind the times," La Vanguardia newspaper quoted the Milan-based fashion house as saying.
"What has an artistic photo got to do with a real act?" the paper quoted the firm as saying. "You would have to burn museums like the Louvre or the paintings of Caravaggio."
Sometimes the line between fashion, art and reality gets blurred.
It is the case for Dolce & Gabbana, the Italian fashion house which has received a negative backlash from its latest campaign.
The risque designers, known for their sexual clothes and advertisements, have released an ad showing a female model being pinned to the ground by a man and watched on by four others.
Spanish consumers, however, were not impressed by the highly styled picture, designed to run on billboards and in magazines.
Spain's Labor and Social Affairs Ministry declared the picture to be illegal and humiliating to women. The ministry added that the campaign has nothing to do with the products they are trying to sell.
The ministry said in a statement, "One could infer from the advertisement that it is acceptable to use force as a way of imposing oneself on a woman, reinforced by the passive and complicit manner of the men looking on."
However, the backlash has forced Dolce & Gabbana to pull the ad - but only in Spain.
The La Vanguardia newspaper quoted the Italian fashion house saying, "We will only withdraw this photo from the Spanish market. They're a bit behind the times...What has an artistic photo got to do with a real act? You would have to burn museums like the Louvre or the paintings of Caravaggio."
Dolce & Gabbana caused a similar stir in England during a past campaign, when models were pictured with knives.
Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana has branded Spain as being 'behind the times' for demanding it withdraw a controversial advertising campaign, a newspaper reported.
Dolce & Gabbana plans to pull the advertisement, which shows a man holding a woman to the ground by her wrists while a group of men look on, following complaints from consumers' groups.
"We will only withdraw this photo from the Spanish market. They're a bit behind the times," La Vanguardia newspaper quoted the Milan-based fashion house as saying.
Dolce & Gabbana, known for their risque clothes and adverts, declined to comment on the matter.
Spain's Labour and Social Affairs Ministry branded the campaign as illegal and humiliating to women, saying the woman's body position had no relation to the products Dolce & Gabbana were trying to sell.
"One could infer from the advertisement that it is acceptable to use force as a way of imposing oneself on a woman, reinforced by the passive and complicit manner of the men looking on," the ministry said in a statement.
Dolce & Gabbana defended the campaign as art in comments reported by La Vanguardia.
"What has an artistic photo got to do with a real act?" the paper quoted the firm as saying.
"You would have to burn museums like the Louvre or the paintings of Caravaggio."
The fracas follows criticism from Britain's advertising watchdog last month about another Dolce & Gabbana campaign showing models brandishing knives.
The British Advertising Standards Authority upheld more than 150 complaints from people concerned that the pictures glorified and condoned violent crime. In that case, the company said the ads were heavily stylised and mimicked early 19th century art.