“Gang-rape” Ad Banned in Italy
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Thursday, March 8, 2007
Lawmakers in Italy demanded a fashion ad for Dolce & Gabbana be censored and an industry advertising group complied.
The ad depicts a bare-chested man pinning down a woman in a black
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bathing suit while four other men look on. The image was part of Dolce & Gabbana’s spring campaign and had brought the ire of women’s rights groups around the world, including the National Organization for Women (NOW) in the United States.
On Monday (March 5, 2007), the Advertising Self-Discipline Institute of Italy banned the ad from all Italian publications. On Wednesday (March 7, 2007) designers Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce decided to pull the advertisement from publications worldwide. The duo said they didn’t mean to offend women.
“It was never our purpose to cause any controversy and instigate violence against women,” Dolce told Newsweek magazine.
The image was meant to “recall an erotic dream, a sexual game,” he added.
Kim Gandy, NOW president, told Bandweek: "It is a provocative ad, but it is provoking things that really are not what we want to have provoked. We don't need any more violence."
