The Dolce & Gabbana Photo Ban Protest meme originates from a real-world event in 2012 in Hong Kong. After the luxury brand allegedly prohibited local residents from taking photographs of their storefront while permitting foreign tourists to do so, thousands of citizens gathered in a massive demonstration to take photos in an act of defiance. The resulting image of a sea of people with cameras has become a powerful visual shorthand for the 'Streisand Effect'—the phenomenon where an attempt to hide or censor information has the unintended consequence of publicizing it more widely. It is commonly used to illustrate situations where a restrictive rule backfires or where a large community unites against elitist policies.