I think dismissing what they've said as thoughtless and stupid is like giving them a slap on the wrist. They have a massive platform and fanbase and that can be both a gift and a curse. They can either win people over with words or alienate them. And as we all know by now they've alienated enough customers to the point that they're prepared to prioritise dragging an IG meme page to court for damages.
And I actually agree with you, I'm all
for them expressing their opinion. That way some of us can see if their values align with ours. Just remember, conscious shopping wasn't ever as polarising a deciding factor as it is today. And that's not because 'cancel culture is out of control', it's because a bunch of figureheads felt they should have the freedom to say whatever they wish without any consequence. That would have been fine, but they forgot that they were also business owners, CEOs speaking to a massive, diverse audience. So you expect me to buy your pitiful, dates wares after basically calling my way of life unnatural?
By stepping up on the platform and mouthing off, D&G forced their clientele to reflect on their own stance and to either continue supporting them and brush what they've said aside, or equate buying into their RTW, accessories and perfumes with supporting oppression. I'm doing perfectly fine without Light Blue, btw.
Just for context on what they said....
The fashion power-duo, who are worth $1.65 billion each and are the 27th richest men in Italy, were the subject of a cover story for Italian weekly Panorama titled “Long-Live the [Traditional] Family,” in which the designers came out against the use of surrogate mothers while claiming children need “a mother and a father.” Dolce, in part of the interview, added “I’m not convinced with what I call chemical children, a rented uterus, semen selected from a catalogue.”
Gabbana went deeper into the concept of the “classical” Italian family, noting, “family isn’t a fleeting trend, in it there’s a sense of belonging.” In another point of the interview, they said "life has a natural trajectory, there are things that should not be altered."
So as you see they are actually very much in favour of the traditional nuclear family concept, only involving straight people of course. It's beyond me, not that they're gay men (we've been over this before), but that this topic of conversation is still coming up when
I thought we've settled it decades ago. Lapierre nailed this with all his counter-arguments, btw.