Celebrities are both applauded and called out for whatever decisions they make. Be it a film script or a sartorial statement, the constant media scrutiny is often displayed through trolls. And something similar happened with actress Sara Ali Khan, who did not know her vacation look would be a point of discussion, a rather controversial one. According to a Reddit thread, a picture of the actress holidaying with brother Ibrahim Ali Khan was used to point out an important question, which was– “Are some of our celebs consciously ignorant or are they simply not aware of the Balenciaga issue?” And it invited opinions, striking a debate.
For the unversed, the Spanish brand received a lot of flack in the past month for its holiday campaign. It featured little girls, holding toys that displayed a version of bondage accessories, alongside wine glasses, and snippets of the US Supreme Court’s judgement on child pornography. Soon, shoppers called out the brand for sexualising kids in the campaign. This brought attention towards the brand, with many calling it insensitive. Soon, Balenciaga responded to the situation, through an apology on its official instagram handle. Besides the labels, many celebrities, significantly Kim Kardashian, expressed their take on the issue, and announced revising her contract with the brand, she is closely known to work with.
Followed by the controversy, many popular celebrities decided to maintain a distance from the brand’s products. But our dear Bollywood celebrities couldn’t keep themselves away from flaunting a piece from the label, and continued to do so, even after the controversial campaign. Discussing what, redditors assembled to answer the question, of whether celebrities are ignorant about it or not? And here are some of the reactions.
While some shared how most celebrities remain ignorant, and don’t care, others mentioned how these celebs wisely used the controversy as a marketing strategy to make it to the headlines. Besides these pole apart views, a few redditors, dug a little too deep, and explained a conspiracy theory that claimed it to be a marketing strategy by Balenciaga itself.
Well, whatever it may be. We think firstly, when celebrities choose to put their lives out for public consumption it has to both enjoy the praises and bear the trolls. And while none of these celebrities are liable to anyone for whatever they choose to wear, and shop in their personal lives, their choices still remain influential for masses. This also explains their take towards a popular controversy, and if they should be endorsing it or not.
Previously, Malaika Arora was also criticised for choosing to wear the brand at designer Manish Malhotra’s party.