Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga came under fire earlier last week after one of its ad campaigns led to severe backlash. Balenciaga introduced its holiday collection this month and the ad campaign sparked outrage on social media as it featured young kids holding teddy bears in BDSM costumes and bondage accessories. One picture even featured a young girl standing in front of a table with wine glasses. Internet users were enraged after looking at the unsettling pictures, sexualising kids. Soon after, the brand removed the campaign and apologised for featuring children in it. And now, reality TV star Kim Kardashian has broken her silence on the campaign.
Kim Kardashian On Balenciaga Campaign
Kim Kardashian often collaborates with Balenciaga and in fact, she even walked for the brand in Paris Couture Fashion show in July 2022 and also posed for Balenciaga’s winter 2022 campaign. After the social media backlash against the brand for the campaign, Kim Kardashian took to Twitter and revealed that she hasn’t remained quiet because she’s not “disgusted” and “outraged” by the campaign but rather because she wanted to take the time to understand what went behind it. Sharing that as a mother of 4 kids, the disturbing pictures have left her shocked. Speaking further, Kim said that the safety of kids must be prioritised and anything that tries to normalise child abuse of any type should not be acceptable. The reality tv start further revealed that she appreciates that the brand has removed the campaign and apologised for it and after her conversation with them, she believes that they understand the gravity of the situation. She concluded her statement by saying that she is currently re-evaluating her relationship with Balenciaga.
But Twitter is not happy with Kim Kardashian’s reaction to the controversial ad campaign. Internet users have called her out for giving Balenciaga a second chance even after they sexualised kids and condoned child abuse instead of cutting ties with them.
Balenciaga Ad Campaign And Social Media Backlash
Eagle-eyed social media users spotted young girls posing with teddy bears on Balenciaga’s website but what they could not digest was the design of these teddy bears. The girls were posing with Balenciaga’s plush bear bags but these teddy bears had some bondage gear on them. In one of the pictures, a girl can be seen holding a teddy bear, wearing a fishnet top, punk rock accessories along with a leather harness. In another picture, yet another girl can be seen holding Balenciaga’s latest teddy bear bag with bondage gear. This ad campaign was severely criticised by social media users for sexualising kids and for condoning child abuse and exploitation. Soon after the brand came under fire for the ad campaign, they issued an apology and said that kids should not have been a part of their plush bear bags campaign.
Balenciaga faced even more backlash from social media after the users spotted a 2008 US Supreme Court judgement on child pornography in the background of one of the pictures from the brand’s Spring 2023 campaign showcasing a bag. The photographer of the shoot Gabriele Galimberti has also issued an apology on Instagram and claimed that he had no control over what products or models of what combination had to be clicked.
Also Read: Twitter Is Serving Balenciaga With A Platter Full Of Hate For Ad Featuring Kids With Bondage Teddy Bear
Apart from this, the luxury label had filed a lawsuit against the production company and the set designer hired for the controversial ad campaign shoot. Balenciaga is seeking $25 million in damages from the production company, North Six Inc and the designer of the set Nicholas Des Jardins and his company. Both these companies were hired to create and produce the Balenciaga Spring 2023 campaign. Balenciaga has sued the companies for including the picture of court documents in the campaign pictures without its knowledge and has termed it “malevolent” and “reckless”.