Balenciaga, the French fashion brand, took down its holiday campaign recently amid resentment from the public, as fans and celebrities continued to denounce the luxury brand.
The
company was recently involved in a controversy over its two recent ad
campaigns. The first was a designer’s gift collection campaign which showed
children with its teddy bear purses but was backlashed after critics noted the
bears appeared to be wearing BDSM and bondage-inspired accessories.
Also Read: What Elon Musk said about suspending Kanye West’s Twitter account
The
second ad under the radar was Balenciaga’s Spring 2023 campaign. It showed a
printout of a Supreme Court verdict on child pornography and a book on Belgian
artist Michaël Borremans, whose works include depictions of castrated children.
Addressing
the controversy, Balenciaga has issued statements past removing both the
campaigns. In the recent, the brand said it “strongly condemned” child abuse
adding that the ad was never intended to “include it in our narrative”.
Also Read: Elon Musk trolled for banning Kanye West from Twitter for 12 hours over Nazi Swastika tweet
The
photographer who shot the campaign, Gabriele Galimberti denied his
accountability to the message behind the campaign. He wrote, “I am not in a
position to comment on Balenciaga’s choices.” He said that he wasn’t involved
in choosing any of the products, models or a combination of both. He also added
that for any commercial shooting, direction or choosing the products to be
displayed is not under the photographer’s discretion.
Also Read: Kanye West leaks chat with Elon Musk after Twitter suspension: ‘This is not love’
Balenciaga
also lodged a lawsuit against the production firm behind the Spring 2023 shoot.
The statements and legal complaint had partially lowered the intense reactions
from the public over the ads, with many still calling for a boycott of the
luxury brand. Celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Nicole Kidman also
communicated their anger and indicated potential dissociation with Balenciaga.
Also Read: Kanye West suspended from Twitter after posting Hakenkreuz interlaced with Star of David
Kardashian
is a longtime ambassador of the brand. She wrote in a tweet that she would be
“re-evaluating” her relationship with Balenciaga in future. Her sister, Kylie
Jenner appeared distancing herself from the brand when she dismissed the
opinion that she and her family were “covering up” for Balenciaga with
“calculated” social media posts.
