The French fashion label Balenciaga has apologised for an ad campaign which featured young children holding teddy bears which had been dressed in Bondage gear.
The ad also featured an image of a Supreme Court opinion on a child pornography case. It has now been withdrawn.
According to The Independent:
On Tuesday, the French fashion label issued a statement to its Instagram story.
“We sincerely apologise for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused,” the statement read.
“Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.”
The recent photoshoot, which was displayed on Balenciaga’s website as part of its “Toy Stories” campaign, featured child models posing with the brand’s teddy bear handbags from its Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2023 collection.
However, critics pointed out that the plush toys appeared to be dressed in bondage and BDSM gear, including fishnet tops, studded leather harnesses, and collars with locks.
Many people took to social media to criticise Balenciaga for the controversial photoshoot. “i understand that a lot of Balenciaga’s marketing is the ‘shock factor’ of it all but this is just disgusting,” one user tweeted.
The photos – which were taken by National Geographic photographer Gabriele Galimberti – also received widespread criticism after many people noticed one of the campaign images used a Supreme Court opinion in a child pornography case as a prop promoting a handbag.
The court papers displayed are from the 2008 Supreme Court case, United States v Williams, which criminalised the pandering of child pornography.
The ruling reaffirmed the constitutionality of the PROTECT Act, a federal law that increased penalties for sexual exploitation and other abuse of children.
“The brand Balenciaga just did a uh…interesting…photoshoot for their new products recently which included a very purposely poorly hidden court document about ‘virtual child porn,’” one person tweeted.
“There is NO acceptable reason to be exposing children to BDSM,” tweeted one critic.
“The court document in the ad appears to be a case known as ‘Free speech coalition vs Ashcroft’ (look it up) this is sick & now Balenciaga has deleted all posts on IG & changed the photo on the site.”
