Anti-semitic rant puts Galliano in bad light.
Dior. Everyone in the fashion world knows something if not a great amount about the power house brand and its founder the late Christian Dior. The name has become synonymous with luxury worldwide. Which is all the more reason why the latest developments about designer John Galliano have been so shockingly offensive.
Dior designer Galliano has really been pushing the envelope lately and it’s looking like it might be pretty hard to come back from at this point. This weekend during the 2011 Oscars Natalie Portman’s new TV ad for the perfume Miss Dior Cherie aired concurrently with Galliano’s offensive anti-semitic video being blasted on the Internet.
The contents of the video almost instantaneously threw him into a quandary being that Portman, the new spokesperson for the perfume, is proudly Jewish. Portman was born in Jerusalem, is an active supporter of Jewish causes and in 2003 she received the Israel Cultural Award.
Once in 2005 Portman disclosed to author Abigail Pogrebin that “Being Israeli has become a much bigger part of my identity in recent years because it’s become an issue of survival.”
Portman also described a close friend that has grasped the “European, anti-Israel way of thinking, and it’s [been] very hard to have conversations with him.”
Only time will tell how the video of Galliano’s rant will affect her relationship with one of the world’s top fashion houses.
“I love Hitler!” Galliano proudly declared in the video apparently drunk at the La Perle brasserie in Paris. He continues on to say to those filming the exchange, “People like you would be dead today. Your mothers and forefathers would be (expletive) gassed.”
To top it all off Galliano allegedly assaulted a couple in a café late last week in Paris, which resulted in his arrest and subsequent suspension by the fashion house.
Portman was prevented from answering how she felt about the designer’s comments when asked in the backstage pressroom after her Best Actress Academy Awards win by the event moderator. This is understandable from a Public Relations perspective because the answer, understandably, could be detrimental both to her career and her current position as spokesperson for the line.
This situation is a nightmare from a public relations standpoint for all parties involved those being Portman, Dior and, of course, Galliano.
The situation with Portman would understandably be a very sensitive one, unavoidable, and she must take the situation into perspective. She must also take her values into consideration and decide if she really wants to represent a line with people such as Galliano working for them. Even though he has been reprimanded the fact of the matter is that he did not just develop these views over night and that he is a talent Dior has harped on for years.
Dior, on the other hand, cannot ignore this situation and they may lose a very big part of their fan base if they don’t take the correct measures toward fixing the situation. Jewish people have historically been very wealthy and undoubtedly purchase Dior, or did. The Public Relations professional for Dior must be ready to hold their hand at this point and make sure nothing else is said that might harm the lines reputation.
Finally, Galliano should probably hire a small PR army to fix this one. He has been off the handle (no pun intended) and has offended a remarkable amount of people with his rants. It is sad that such a great talent is violently self-destructing in such a manner. What makes it harder is that he probably does not even care and keeping him from making any other offensive comments will probably be a job in itself. Galliano has been a hero in many eyes and has disappointed so many of his loyal fans. Only time will tell if he can come back from this.
-Alisha Mychele
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