Balenciaga is receiving huge backlash regarding two separate ad campaigns, with many accusing them of ‘promoting paedophilia’ and child exploitation.
The first campaign depicted images of children holding teddy bear bags, of which the bears were wearing items such as leather bondage and spiked collars. A few days after the first campaign was released, Balenciaga dropped the ‘Garde Robe’ campaign, which featured various celebrities in Manhattan offices. Pictures showed papers scattered all over the desk yet, many social media users noticed that on the desk, paperwork included that from the US supreme court case, United States vs Williams. The case detailed discussion of child pornography laws. As well as this, the photoshoot also included imagery of a painting from artist Michaël Borremans. However, Borremans paintings have often been described as “toddlers engaged in playful but mysterious acts with sinister overtones and insinuations of violence.”
The information on the court documents were originally uncovered by Tik-Tok users, who highlighted the inappropriateness of the campaign and the use of child sexualisation. This quickly went viral across social media platforms and quickly turned into a global scandal for the brand. Balenciaga issued an apology shortly after the release of the ‘gift collection’ campaign stating on Instagram ‘We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in our narrative.’ The public announcement then led to Balenciaga addressing that they were suing the campaign production company and set designer for 25 million dollars. Balenciaga claimed they had no knowledge of what was going on and place fault on North Six and Nicholas Des Jardins.
Many big celebrities such as Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are highly affiliated and have longstanding relations with the brand, doing numerous campaigns for them and walking in their Paris Couture show. Many called for Kardashian to respond to the controversy, which she eventually did, where she condemned the actions of Balenciaga. In a statement on her Instagram, she says that she’s ‘re-evaluating my relationship with the brand.’ Many were also criticising the likes of Kylie Jenner for trying to distract people from Kim’s drama, as she posted pictures of her baby boy of which we still don’t know the name. Alternatively, celebrities such as Kanye West were very outspoken on the matter. Kanye West’s relationship with the brand was terminated before the controversial campaign. However, West spoke openly to paparazzi, saying “You don’t see no celebrities talking about the Balenciaga situation.”
People have taken to social media to show their outrage and encouraged others to boycott the brand. Many have been destroying their Balenciaga items, ripping them apart, burning them or throwing them away. News outlets such as Fox News have helped publicise popular conspiracy theories which believe that there is “a group of Satan-worshiping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control our politics and media.”
The long-term repercussions for Balenciaga are unknown, but we know that publications such as ‘Business of Fashion’ have revoked their decision to give Demna an award for ‘Designer of the Year.’ Therefore, the legal actions who remains to be held accountable is not yet to be known.