Balenciaga's recent ad campaign, which was blamed for promoting inappropriate conduct involving children, has upbraided Balenciaga - and now both the photographer and the enterprise have given a statement.
The initial ad campaign, which has been yanked from the designer's social platforms and website, featured two young girls holding teddy bears that seemed to be sporting BDSM bondage gear.
Upon further questioning, others on social media noticed that a still image of a Balenciaga bag on a table contained documents from the Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition court case, which ruled in favor of virtual child pornography, as reported by Entrepreneur.
A third photo shows a redheaded woman sitting at a desk overlooking New York City with a Michael Boerrman book featuring nude images of children.
Angry viewers and shoppers took to the internet to slam the company and shame them for their now viral marketing campaign.
After the backlash, Balenciaga issued an apology via social media.
Instagram via Balenciaga
"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 photoshoot," the company's story read. "We strongly condemn abuse of children in any form. We stand for children safety and well-being."
Following Balenciaga's statement, the campaign photographer, Gabriele Galimberti, composed a lengthy proclamation to his own personal Instagram account, trying to exonerate himself from the creative decisions that were made in styling and itemizing the campaign, reports Entrepreneur.
This isn't the first scandal to rock the designer this year.
Amidst Kanye West's repeated anti-Semitic and hateful remarks over the past month, Balenciaga declared it was cutting associations with the rapper after collaborating with him on the now-defunct Yeezy Gap line.
"Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist," Kering, Balenciaga's parent firm, notified WWD last month.
On the other hand, Kim Kardashian is facing a career-ending scandal for standing with Balenciaga after this controversial Ad.
Kim has been seen wearing pieces specifically from Balenciaga during her outings and at events. She is trying to show her loyalty and support towards the brand, and as a result, she is being targeted, reported Animated Times.
Developing story: New York Post reported that Balenciaga has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the producers of a controversial ad campaign that included a child pornography court ruling and # BDSM teddy bears, new court papers show.
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