New D&G ads banned in UK

Dolce & Gabbana, the Italian fashion house best-known for its sexy corsets and glamorous dresses has come under scrutiny for a series of 'violent' adverts for its new fashion campaign. Two of these have been banned from the UK. Reuters reported that an advertising watchdog criticised the company who in their latest ad show models brandishing knives. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the industry regulator, upheld more than 150 complaints from people concerned that the stylised pictures glorified and condoned violent crime, says Reuters.

The ads, which appeared in the The Daily Telegraph and The Times, showed two men holding a wounded women and two men threatening a man in a chair while another lay on the floor with a head wound. Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have always exuded a theatrical element in their design, oft preferring to be flashy and controversial over demure elegance. The ads were meant to have a similar theatrical effect depicting Napoleonic art, however after hundreds of complaints the ASA has ruled the opposite, stating they are causing widespread offence and sending a wrong message to young readers.

"The ad could be seen as condoning and glorifying knife-related violence," the ASA said of the Times advert. "It was irresponsible." Dolce & Gabbana said the adverts drew no complaints when they were published in China, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan and the United States.