Not only did the campaign spark a backlash, but it turned ugly as the brand filed a lawsuit against the creators of the ad.
UPDATE – 05:54 PM, Wed – 30 Nov 22
![Everything You Need to Know About Balenciaga's Controversial Ad Campaign](https://cdn.telanganatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Balenciaga.jpg)
Hyderabad: While it’s true that high-end fashion house Balenciaga is just running social experimentation with one pointless product after another, it’s extremely unlikely that a “modern” brand would be involved in a pedophile ad campaign.
Launched during Paris Fashion Week, the ad was shot for the French fashion house’s spring-summer collection. Not only did the campaign spark a backlash, but it turned ugly as the brand filed a lawsuit against the creators of the ad.
What’s wrong with the campaign?
The problem is that their campaign has two different sets of images. First, an ad promoting their collaboration with sports brand Adidas is set against the backdrop of a set of court documents.
A beautiful and stylish black bag sits on several sheets of paper; the documents are said to be from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the use of indecent images of children. Why would they use court-related documents to facilitate brand partnerships? no one knows.
The second is the most obvious and disgusting set of images, a girl holding a stuffed teddy bear. Now, you might be asking what’s wrong with young girls cuddling teddy bears? If only teddy bears weren’t equipped with restraint gear.
Bondage or BDSM is the practice of binding or restraining a sexual partner for pleasure, and honestly there is nothing wrong with it as long as both parties are willing and of age.
anger
Once the images were shared on Balenciaga’s social media platforms, the brand faced a backlash not only from regular social media users and activists, but also from some of the biggest names in the industry.
YouTuber June Nicole Lapine’s tweets were the most viral. “The ‘Balenciaga’ brand recently did an er…interesting…photo shoot for their new product, which included a very intentionally poorly hidden court filing about ‘virtual child pornography’ (sic),” she wrote.
https://twitter.com/shoe0nhead/status/1594532715126202368
Kim Kardashian also tweeted her concerns and said she was reevaluating her relationship with the brand. Kim often collaborates with Balenciaga.
“As a mother of four, I am horrified by these disturbing images. The safety of children must be taken very seriously and any attempt to normalize child abuse of any kind has no place in our society —period (sic),” she said in a series of tweets about the matter.
Balenciaga’s response
The French fashion house, which continues to face criticism, has removed the images from its social media accounts and issued an apology.
“We could have done things differently,” they said. The fashion house took full responsibility for the event, but said the court documents used were provided by a third-party organisation.
They also say the internal review is changing the way they work and strengthening structures around the creative process and beyond.
Additionally, Balenciaga has filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court accusing production company North Six Inc. and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins of using documents related to child pornography cases in photos for the ad campaign without their permission.
They are seeking at least $25 million in damages from the production company.