Brandjack News

By Quentin Langley

Sir Elton John has called for people to boycott fashion brand Dolce and Gabbana after the group's founders expressed their opposition to in vitro fertilisation. Gabbana has previously been critical of same sex adoption.

Gabbana has criticised Sir Elton's boycott call and defended his own "freedom to speak" while calling on people to boycott Sir Elton's music.

Gabbana is plainly confused. Freedom of speech does not mean that other people have to agree with you and, if you express controversial views you must expect others to respond. Nor does the fashion chain have any particular right to have us buy their garments. If people wish to boycott D&G they are free to do so. But even if this were not so, even if criticising someone and calling for a boycott was an infringement of freedom of speech, then such a charge would apply equally to Gabbanna as to Sir Elton. 

Dolce and Gabbanna have made some fundamental missteps here. First they have involved themselves in a debate about a moral question when there was simply no commercial reason for them to do so. They are offending people and winning plaudits from almost no-one

Secondly, they are involving themselves in a moral question that is already settled as far as the vast majority of people are concerned. Abortion and gay marriage remain controversial. There are constituencies on each side of those questions. But IVF and contraception are almost universally accepted these days. Expressing these views will bring almost no-one to their side.

Thirdly they engaged in pointlessly and offensively emotive language, speaking of "synthetic children". Such language will be taken as not only judgmental towards parents – a charge they deny – but spiteful towards the children, something most people will not find it easy to forgive. 

Fourthly, they may have overestimated their own power in the marketplace. While fashion brands certainly have "fans", they are rather different from the fans of musical or sports stars. People may like their product while having little interest in or knowledge of the designers behind it. I doubt that many people will respond to their calls for a boycott, whereas Sir Elton's fans may be much more inclined to give weight to his views.

Sir Elton John and Martina Navratilova, who has joined his call, are both gay, but gay people are by no means the only people likely to be offended by this attack. Many couples undertake fertility treatment for all sorts of reasons. People personally touched by the issue of infertility are likely to have strong feelings about this. It is not just customers of D&G to consider, but their other publics as well. How many employees at D&G are gay? How many of their straight employees have had fertility issues? Neither seems likely to be an insignificant number.