Dolce & Gabbana Panders to Rich Folks, Probably Breaks Law
Hey, no surprise. The filthy rich are their customers. That being said, this crosses the line:
A Dolce & Gabbana store in Hong Kong was besieged by more than a thousand protesters on January 8 clamoring for apology after the Italian high fashion house decided to forbid non-shoppers from taking photos of its storefront.
The security guard allegedly told a local Hong Kong photographer to “get lost” and yelled, “only Mainland Chinese is allowed to take pictures,” which sparked locals’ anger over the influx of travellers and immigrants from Mainland China[.]
Ouch. I’m no expert on Hong Kong (or UK) law, but somehow I don’t think that a private retail establishment has the authority to stop individuals from taking pictures on a public street. Moreover, D&G’s high-end customers have no expectation of privacy while shopping for . . . well, whatever it is that D&G sells. End of story.
In the late 70s when China started opening up, there were all manner of derogatory terms used in HK towards mainland Chinese. It is humorously ironic how the discrimination shoe is on the other foot in this instance. That being said, there is no way that the alleged utterances of that security guard represent a legally enforceable concept in any way.
Something smells fishy. I’m willing to bet there’s more than meets the eye to this story, much like most stories about China that make it to western media.
This is SUCH a Hong Kong story — what happens when you mix personal freedoms and an obsession with fashion goods. What other city in the world would hold a Dolce & Gabbana protest?
But seriously, there is more to this. There is much resentment towards rich mainland Chinese taking advantage of limited resources in Hong Kong — whether it’s groceries, hospital beds, residential flats, private school places, etc. There was even a proposal to tax mainland Chinese trying to buy away all our baby milk powder. (That proposal didn’t pass, obviously).
Adding to that resentment is what is perceived as service people giving unfair advantage to out-of-towners. Here’s a small example — everyone with kids makes an appointment to get free vaccines at government clinics. Mainlanders have been showing up with their luggage, claiming it’s a “humanitarian case” since they have to rush back over the border, and using that excuse to cut in line in front of parents who have been waiting for an hour.
As for luxury goods — I was shopping in Central when two mainland guys shoved in front of me and wordlessly handed a paper to the salesgirl. These are the typical scalper types who are buying in bulk to resell over the border. Fine — I don’t care. But I do care that the salesgirl didn’t have the guts to tell him to wait in line like everyone else. People are annoyed by the tourists’ bad behavior (not a “please” or “thank you” in sight) but they’re also annoyed that HK salespeople bend to them.
It is very weird to hold a protest over the right to take a picture of the D&G store — I bet none of these people had ever bothered to photograph said store before — but HK’s a weird and wonderful place.
“what happens when you mix personal freedoms and an obsession with fashion goods” — LOL
As a mainlander who has visited HK since the late 80s, there have been a general resentments toward people from Mainland in HK. Some Hong Kongers can’t seem to take a break from throwing negative stereotypes at mainlanders (joyce for example). I see this in Singapore too, people complaining about “PRC tourists acting anti-social”. As if people can really tell the difference between mainlanders and locals even half of the time.
Of course that is not to excuse the uber rich from China, who are hated by just about everyone but the businesses they are catering to. HKers and Singaporeans are generally materialistic, although less so than mainlanders. The thing is that while the migrants from mainland are mocked for their incivility (it’s true that they don’t queue very well, which gets on my nerves), the wealthy Mainland tourists are hated mostly because they can out-snob the snobs from HK.
I just bought a nice D G jacket at the Silk Market iN Beijing – RMB180 –
Could any of the nice rich people who reads this blog tell me whether it is normal they come without breastpocket?
OK the real point: What IP? and Whose? By just putting your name on something, one does not create ownership – That is more like trespass.
” Dolce & Gabbana HK first sent representatives to dismiss on-site reporters, claiming the ban was to protect their intellectual property rights and prevent plagiarism of their products.”.
This reminds me of an anecdote relating to a Gates and Jobs dispute about the ownership of the IP to the mouse. Jobs claimed ownership and accused Gates of theft. Gates responded along the lines that it was more as if they (Microsoft) had gone to the fat cat’s house (Xerox) to steal the tv (mouse) only to find out that Apple had already stolen it.
Plagiarism of D and G products??? How many times can the jacket design be stolen??????
So the only IP is in the name!!! Not in the goods it pretends to represent.