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Bottega Did What To The Great Wall of China?

Bottega Veneta is attempting to make it onto Diet Prada despite having an Instagram account, strange? not for this brand.

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In ostensible celebration of the Lunar New Year, the Italian luxury house erected a digital screen (read: advertisement) showing the Bottega Veneta emblem on a section of the Great Wall of China.

According to WWD, the branding opportunity is accompanied by a brief message: “Happy New Year.”

It’s a nod to the guerilla advertisements Bottega debuted in late 2021, which included LAX ads only visible by plane and branding hidden beneath the water of a pool.

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However, because this Lunar New Year campaign features a culturally significant landmark, it feels a lot cheesier.

Bottega Veneta has offered a donation in support of the reconstruction of the Shanghai Pass, one of the Great Wall’s major routes located in Shanghaiguan District, seemingly detecting a potential backlash to this media grab.

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The colorful commercial — which, ofcurse, will be removed on January 12 — appears to be a cheap appeal to APAC customers’ spending power rather than a real respect to the Year of the Tiger.

Bottega will also offer a Lunar New Year capsule collection, which will include a tiger-striped version of the Cassette bag, a woven cross body style. But, the plan isn’t going over well on social media.

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An announcement on WWD’s Instagram has received a flood of negative feedback. “This is not a vibe,” one of them quips.

Applying a designer brand to a structure built by a workforce mostly consisted of convicts, hundreds of thousands of whom died during the construction process, is truly repugnant.


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