Opinion | Why Gucci placing tigers in a glamour setting for Year of the Tiger advertising campaign is all wrong

Gucci adverts timed for Lunar New Year showing tigers at a hotel high tea are wrong on every level. So what if the tiger images were shot in a safe setting?

Rather than advertise the luxury house’s Year of the Tiger collection they promote the exotic-pet trade and petting zoos. Animals don’t belong in ads, Gucci

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Gucci’s Year of the Tiger advertising campaign has drawn criticism for using real tigers and making it appear they are in a glamorous setting. Photo: Gucci

Kylie Knott

Published: 6:41pm, 20 Jan 2022Updated: 9:57am, 21 Jan 2022

Let’s get straight to the point: Gucci’s latest advertising campaign screams tone deaf.

Designed to promote its Year of the Tiger collection, the campaign depicts “actual tigers” joining a “group of friends for high tea in a retro-style hotel”.

What on earth was Gucci thinking? Oh, obviously it wasn’t.

Not surprisingly, social media users got their claws out, bombarding Gucci’s social accounts with comments such as “the tiger is not a pet”, “free the tigers” and “don’t exploit animals”.

An image from Gucci’s Year of the Tiger advertising campaign. “The tiger is not a pet,” read one critical comment posted to Gucci’s social media. Photo: Gucci

Gucci says the tigers featured in its Year of the Tiger advertising were photographed in a “separate safe environment”. Photo: Gucci

Animal rights groups joined the chorus, calling on Gucci to stop glorifying captive wild animals in their campaigns.