Balenciaga Issues Statement, Pulls Inappropriate Ads Featuring Children
The high-end fashion brand is apologizing for its recent ads.
Balenciaga is issuing an apology after their ads stirred up controversy.
The luxury brand's latest advertising campaign–originally shared earlier this week–featured children cuddling teddy bears dressed in bondage gear. Some photos even featured children posing next to empty wine glasses, according to CNN.
The images were linked to the brand's "Gift Shop" campaign with children dressed in the Balenciaga Kids Line. According to a press release shared with CNN, the campaign "iterates on the artist's series Toy Stories, an exploration of what people collect and receive as gifts."
"We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms," the company wrote in a statement posted to its Instagram story on Tuesday regarding the images.
The photos that featured toddlers with plush teddy bear bags wearing what appeared to be BDSM–a term used to describe a type of sexual roleplay that involve dominance, submission, and control–gear caused an uproar amongst social media users.
Hours after issuing the initial apology, Balenciaga posted another now-deleted statement on Instagram to address additional promotional photos for a separate campaign that included what appeared to be an excerpt from the U.S. Supreme Court case relating to child pornography laws.
"We apologize for displaying unsettling documents in our campaign. We take this matter very seriously and are taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved items for our Spring 23 campaign photo shoot," the luxury brand wrote.
"We strongly condemn abuse of children in any form. We stand for children safety and well-being."
The apology, however, wasn't enough for some critics. Instead, they used it as fuel for the fire that was started last month when the brand cut ties with Kanye West after he shared a series of antisemitic Tweets and controversial comments.
"Balenciaga severed their ties with @kanyewest due to a tweet. Yet they expect us to just 'accept their apology' after they get caught up sexualizing children? They’re not apologizing because they’re sorry. They’re apologizing because they got caught," conservative commentator CJ Pearson wrote via Twitter.
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