Prada Has a Devil of a Dilemma, But So Does India
India’s heritage products still struggle to secure the kind of legal protection routinely afforded to Western goods.
Photo: Indranil Aditya/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Luxury house Prada SpA may be enjoying the buzz around The Devil Wears Prada 2, but it has walked into fresh controversy in India. The brand’s missteps show how foreign firms need to tread carefully when dealing with questions of identity and cultural appropriation in one of the world’s largest retail markets.
No one likes their heritage repackaged without acknowledgement. But neither Prada nor India’s outraged digital army is confronting the real problem: Why the country’s traditional products remain so poorly protected, while a disproportionate share of the profits flows elsewhere. Fixing that will require more than rage.