Balenciaga apologizes for BDSM-themed childs ads
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Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga has issued an apology for its
disturbing advertising campaign that featured young children
holding stuffed animals in bondage gear and court documents
pertaining to child pornography.
"We would like to address the controversies surrounding our
recent ad campaigns," the Spanish fashion house stated in a Nov.
28 Instagram post. "We strongly condemn child abuse; it was
never our intent to include it in our narrative."
"The two separate ad campaigns in question reflect a series
of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes full responsibility."
According to the fashion brand, the first campaign involving stuffed
animals decked in BDSM gear "should not have been featured with
children." Balenciaga cited a "wrong choice" and its "failure in
assessing and validating images" for the issue.
The second campaign, meanwhile, sought to "replicate a business
office environment." Balenciaga clarified that the document in the
said ad was the 2008 U.S. v. Williams decision by the Supreme
Court, which ruled that the promotion of child pornography is
illegal and not protected by the First Amendment.
The brand further explained: "All the items included in this [shoot]
were provided by third parties that confirmed in writing that these
props were fake office documents. They turned out to be real legal
papers, most likely coming from the filming of a television drama."
While Balenciaga stated the involvement of third parties in the
shoot, it ultimately admitted to negligence and a lack of oversight
and judgment.
The fashion brand's apology came three days after it sued North Six
Inc., the production company it hired for the second campaign, for
$25 million. Set designer Nicholas Des Jardins and his company were
also named as defendants in the Nov. 25 complaint. Interestingly,
none of the photographers for the first and second campaigns were
included as defendants.
Gabriele Galimberti, the photographer for the first campaign,
commented on the fiasco through a statement.
"I am not in a position to comment [on] Balenciaga's choices, but
I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to choose
the products, the models or the combination of the same," he said.
"The direction of the [commercial] campaign and the choice of the
objects displayed are not in the hands of the photographer."
Gabriela Moussaieff, Des Jardins' agent, lamented that Balenciaga
is using her client as a scapegoat.
"Everyone from Balenciaga was on the shoot, was present on every
shot and worked on the edit of every image in post-production,"
Moussaieff said. She also pointed out that the U.S. v. Williams
ruling and other documents used in the second campaign "were
obtained from a prop house that were rental pieces used [for] photo
shoots."
Meanwhile, several Twitter personalities denounced the controversial
ads by Balenciaga. Others dug into the brand's earlier campaigns and
found themes centering on Satanic imagery, child pornography,
cannibalism and human sacrifice.
Actress Kim Kardashian, an ambassador for the fashion label, tweeted:
"The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any
attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place
in our society - period."
While she appreciated Balenciaga's removal of the offensive campaigns
and its subsequent apology, Kardashian added that she is currently
reevaluating her relationship with the brand based on its willingness
to accept accountability and its actions to protect children in future
campaigns.
Paul Joseph Watson of Summit News, meanwhile, wrote in a tweet:
"The notion that Balenciaga was ignorant to the fact that their kiddie
BDSM photo shoot also featured a document relating to child porn
is utterly absurd.
