Interaction Theory Blog Post #4

This past week, John Galliano, head designer for the brand Christian Dior, was fired for making anti-Semitic remarks in public in France, where it is a crime to incite racial hatred. Dior is part of the powerhouse corporation LVMH (Moet Hennessy * Louis Vuitton). Galliano is responsible for reinventing the Dior brand and turning it into one of the most recognizable and successful contemporary fashion houses. Despite Galliano's success, his recent behavior, which many believe to be the result of alcoholism in addition to the general pressures and mindsets of the fashion world, forced LVMH to fire him swiftly. Natalie Portman, who is now the face of the popular perfume, Miss Dior Cherie, and who is also Jewish, publicly stated that she was disgusted by Galliano's comments and did not want to be associated with the designer.

Putting my own personal feelings aside as a Jewish woman with relatives who survived the Holocaust, I think this is an interesting example of how a brand reacts to a situation that they couldn't plan for and the system that is put in motion to handle it. Being a worldwide and very public brand, LVMH was extremely aware of the damage that could be caused to the Dior brand, and the LVMH group as well, if Galliano wasn't fired. It is also well known that many luxury fashion houses earn most of their revenue though sales of items like perfume and accessories and not necessarily clothes. And now that Natalie Portman, who was already a well-liked and distinguished actress, is an academy award winner, Dior would of course not want to lose her as a public figure for their brand. From a strategic perspective, whatever genius, creativity, and success that Galliano had brought to the brand was made null by his words of hatred. Of course this situation is far more complicated than right or wrong, but in terms of brand reputation, this one act had to be acted upon quickly by LVMH to preserve their system of companies and brands and to make sure that the worldwide community knew they were not to be associated with Galliano's venomous words.

As we learned from Damien Newman's lecture last week in class, there is a huge system set in place to produce a successful product or service that most clients and customers don't even realize exists. Damien emphasized that it is important to remember what a company loves and what they care about. An article from The New York Times' T Magazine reported that Dior's president and chief executive officer, issued a brief statement saying,
"I condemn most firmly the statements made by John Galliano which are a totaly contradiction with the essential values that have always been defended by the House of Christian Dior."


No one would fault LVMH for letting one of the greatest fashion talents of the past two decades go if his values were no longer in accordance with the Dior brand. It was in fact reported that many customers were complaining about Galliano's behavior and the brand obviously needs its customers to thrive. What happened with Galliano and Dior could not have been planned for but LVMH acted with concern for the values and integrity of one of its most famous and public brands.