Luxury brand Balenciaga ‘CANCELLED’ for recent AD campaign which includes children and teddy bears wearing ‘bondage gear’

The luxury brand Balenciaga have come under fire this week after a Twitter user uncovered photos from a holiday campaign with child models holding teddy bear bags dressed in bondage gear.

The bear handbags could be seen wearing fishnet tops, collars with locks and restraints and leather chest harnesses. People all over social media are calling for the brand to be ‘cancelled’ with immediate effect.

The tweet also included photos of a separate campaign in collaboration with Adidas which involved an imagine where a Balenciaga handbag is featured on top of disturbing scattered documents that have alluded to child pornography.

One of the papers appears to be from the 2008 Supreme Court case, United States vs Williams, which involved a controversial decision by the Supreme Court that offering or requesting to transfer or trade child pornography did not violate the First Amendment to the United States constitution. 

People across social media believe that the document was included as a way of communicating to the public that the brand agree with the verdict of the case and therefore do not find their campaign to be offensive. However, some Twitter users have responded to the backlash stating that this could have been an accident or the actions of the photographer rather than the brand itself.

Balenciaga have issued a statement on Instagram claiming that the campaign was in fact the photographer’s fault and that they would be taking legal action against those involved.

In response to this apology many of the public were quick to conclude that the items and documents were strategically placed to show that the brand allegedly condone paedophilia and the sexualisation of children. World renowned photographer Misan Harriman recently spoke out regarding the Balenciaga controversy and has condemned the campaign. He stated that he was “utterly horrified” and “angry”.

Harriman continued by saying that as a photographer working in the fashion industry, he knows how many steps one must to go through to get a client such as Balenciaga to approve images. He urged the fashion industry and the CEO of Balenciaga to do something about this and declared that the entire shoot was unacceptable. In the comments under the video individuals shared their admiration for Harriman for ‘speaking out’ and ‘protecting the children’ despite the detrimental effects it could have to his career.

Although a large amount of people are sharing their disgust towards the brand, many celebrities who have frequently expressed their love for the brand in the past have stayed silent during the scandal to avoid backlash and the possibility of being cancelled themselves.

Kim Kardashian has recently come under fire by those on TikTok and Twitter who were outraged due to the reality TV star not speaking out sooner about the issue. Kardashian, who has been the face of Balenciaga for many years, posted a statement on Twitter claiming that she will be ‘re-evaluating’ her relationship with Balenciaga for the future.

A large majority of her fans and the general public took to the comments section to express their disdain for the apology, claiming it sounded ‘insincere’ and ‘out of touch’. One wrote, “You can’t be that outraged if you’re going to continue to model for them I applaud u for speaking up but the fact that this even happened speaks volumes and so publicly at that. Shame on Balenciaga and anyone who still supports them. Things like this don’t deserve a second chance.”

Another criticized the apology by saying, “I don’t believe that you’re being sincere at all. I think you were just hoping that it would blow over. There’s no way that they paid for an ad campaign, didn’t look it over thoroughly before they put it out there. Seems like it’s more about money for you.”

Kanye West, the ex husband of the reality star, was recently involved in some controversy himself when Balenciaga had cut ties with him and terminated their contract with the singer due to the antisemitism tweets West had posted earlier in the summer. West had spoken out about his opinion on recent events and had claimed that the tweets were a stunt in order to get himself released from the contract with the brand for this very reason. He alluded to the fact that he knew what was coming and wanted no part in it. Kim Kardashian has made no further comment on the issue.

In response to the outrage and backlash, after posting their statement, the brand has wiped their Instagram profile and removed all photos from the page. The account had gone private which means that only followers before going private will be able to view future posts and any further followers after would have to make a request to follow and be approved by the page admin.