Dive Brief:
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Designer Domenico Dolce, the design, business, and once romantic partner of Stefano Gabbana, sparked a high-profile boycott of their iconic luxury brand after Dolce made comments to an Italian magazine saying that gay parenting was unnatural.
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Dolce himself once said years ago that he would like to have biological children through surrogacy, but in his recent remarks said that the process produced “synthetic” children and that families needed a mother and father.
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The remarks prompted calls for a boycott by an Italian LGBT rights group, which has gained force after Elton John joined in.
Dive Insight:
While luxury Italian designers like Dolce & Gabbana have been a global brand for decades now, these days news zips around the world faster than ever. Add to that a deeper acceptance for LGBT rights and families, and these remarks by Dolce were guaranteed to cause trouble.
The question now is how sustained the tempest will be. Boycotts in general are rarely very effective, at least for long. But fashion is a touchy, idiosyncratic world.
And LGBT rights is an issue in the mainstream these days. Dolce himself is gay, but these kinds of remarks reverberate not just within the gay community, but out to many supporters as well. Plus, of course, gay parents aren’t the only ones using in-vitro fertilization and other reproductive treatments to grow their families. Pasta maker Barilla found the hard way just how much support the community has when its chief made similar remarks a few years ago.