Barely two weeks ago, the Catalan clothing brand Desigual launched a campaign mocking the touristification, massification, insecurity, and rising prices currently stifling Barcelona. A campaign that public opinion perceived as a misstep, due to playing frivolously and without a defined critical will with such a poignant social issue, simply to sell clothes. But little did we know that, in a matter of a few days, the brand would manage to completely turn its image around. The sudden change of direction has arrived with the new campaign, titled Born to disobey. A girl, with a defiant attitude in front of a robot, questions the infallibility of artificial intelligence, which collapses in the face of human singularity, and encourages standing up to the dictatorship of algorithms. And looking straight into the camera, she says: “She was designed to obey. I was not.” The brilliance of the ad, however, lies in the fact that its protagonist is not just any model, but Vivian Jenna Wilson: Elon Musk’s trans daughter.

The Catalan clothing brand Desigual has once again pulled a Juan Carlos in Botswana with its now iconic "I am very sorry... it will not happen again." The reason? The latest campaign, in which, with a clearly sarcastic and mocking treatment, it makes gentrification, touristification, overcrowding, rising prices, and insecurity in Barcelona the central theme to promote its latest collaboration with the Berlin brand Ottolinger. A campaign that has ignited social media and received a mostly negative reception. Firstly, because many have perceived it as a trivialization of the problems that currently stifle the Catalan capital. Furthermore, this treatment, beyond the fact that a brand based in Barcelona is shooting itself in the foot by ridiculing the city's image, does not aim upwards as a form of denunciation. What we must be clear about is that not all irony is a critique. And if, in addition, all of this is done to sell a few t-shirts, it is even harder to find any real desire to question anything.And I say that they have pulled a Joan Carles again because it is not the first time, in recent times, that Desigual has had to rectify its advertising campaigns. The most recent one, in 2025, starred actress Ester Expósito wearing the slogan Not a doll(I am not a doll), with an apparently feminist intention of women's empowerment. The problem is that, in parallel, the t-shirt campaign Protect the dolls was taking place, to support the trans community following the attacks and harassment by Donald Trump's American government. A campaign that, in no case, was minor, but rather had a great reach, with the adherence of renowned figures such as actor Pedro Pascal, singer Troye Sivan, or designer Haider Ackermann. The campaign itself could have been good, provided it had been carried out in a parallel world. The problem is that contexts are fundamental and seeing Expósito proudly wearing a t-shirt with the phrase "Not a doll", at that moment made the reading go from feminist to transphobic.In December 2012, it launched the campaign Tengo un plan, composed of three advertisements in which three conventionally beautiful women dressed up, in a sexy and uninhibited attitude, in front of the mirror while they explained their future plans. The first, to travel to Thailand to have sexual adventures and leave her life behind, including her boyfriend. The second, to tell her family that she had a female partner. And the third, that she had decided to sleep with her boss. A campaign that, despite wanting to empower women, fell into a false representation of equality by the adoption, on the part of these three women, of behaviors traditionally associated with men.The most serious one, however, was released following Mother's Day 2014, titled Tú decides. A normatively sexy girl, after putting a pillow under her dress to see what she would look like pregnant, took a strip of condoms and poked holes in them. An advertisement that clearly treats women's freedom of choice in the clumsiest way, since, apart from ignoring the other person's reproductive consent, it disregards the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.Seeing, therefore, the promotional trajectory of Desigual, we could think that at the head of the marketing department they have a monkey at the wheel, with a total disconnection from the world and what is cooking. But, seeing the repeated blunders, perhaps what they have is a clever person who, in the face of a company that is struggling with sales, has opted for the old formula that says "let them talk about us, even if it is badly". A dangerous tactic that must be executed very well so that it does not end up being bread for today and hunger for tomorrow.In any case, perhaps the latest campaign regarding the touristification of Barcelona is better thought out than we locals have been able to see. With a brand owned by the Swiss Thomas Meyer and sales directed mostly to the international market, perhaps the campaign was not intended to amuse the people of Barcelona. Perhaps, precisely, its audience was those who experience the city from the other side: as a backdrop to visit, consume, and, now also, wear.

The César González-Bueno's resignation His appointment as CEO of Banc Sabadell, just after successfully avoiding a takeover bid from BBVA, took everyone by surprise. "It was now or in a year, and now was a good time because nobody expected it; therefore, we left no room for speculation," the executive said, satisfied, at a press conference this Friday. This change has marked the week of executive reshuffles, but Desigual is also losing one of its key figures, and Deloitte Spain will have a new president in June. These are the most notable appointments of the week:

Desigual confirms its return to profitability. The Catalan fashion brand closed 2024 with a profit of €313,331, after suffering losses of €61.4 million in the previous year, as reported by Modaes on Thursday and confirmed by the Catalan Association of Companies (ARA) through accounts filed with the Mercantile Registry. This improvement is mainly due to restructuring, cost adjustments, and provisions that had significantly impacted its recent results. In 2022, profits were €3 million.

Gemma Molner and her sister are the third generation of a small line of shopkeepers. Their grandparents opened their doors, and today the family business – Xarol fashion stores – has two stores in Tarragona and Reus. However, she has long observed how her customers' consumption habits are changing at a dizzying pace. "Online sales are here to stay. Since Covid, they haven't stopped growing," says the Reus-born businesswoman, who is also a member of the trade committee of the Pimec employers' association in Tarragona and represents the El Tomb trade association in the capital of Baix Camp.

"I never would have thought I'd end up carrying Desigual." By printing it on a basic white T-shirt, the Catalan fashion chain has turned this phrase, which might seem like a criticism, into the banner of its transformation. The company founded by Swiss entrepreneur Thomas Meyer in Barcelona has experienced a turbulent decade of economic decline since its peak in 2014, when it had revenues of almost €1 billion and a network of 526 stores worldwide. Ten years later, Desigual is a smaller brand—in 2024, it had revenues of €332 million, a third of its peak—and with practically half the number of stores (it now has 282), which has pivoted to try to adapt to the tastes of younger customers and return to profitability.

Catalan fashion company Desigual will be the first in the sector in Spain to implement a four-day working week (Monday to Thursday) and have three days off at its headquarters located in Barcelona. In exchange, workers will take a 6.5% pay cut. The measure has been approved by 86% of workers on Thursday in a vote that was carried out at its headquarters. To approve the measure, the company – which last year saw its turnover plummet by 39% and closed the year with losses of €83m – had stipulated that it would require the consensus of at least two thirds of the workforce.