Balenciaga Under Fire for BDSM-Themed Objects Campaign Involving Toddlers
Balenciaga has recently pulled its 2022 Holiday Campaign marketed featuring children toys that wore BDSM-garb.
Balenciaga has issued an apology regarding it’s latest campaign for the holiday season.
Highlighting its ‘Objects’ line featuring logo-heavy accessories, the images were modeled by children, who were seen holding toys dressed in bondage and BDSM gear. These teddy bears were featured in the brand’s Summer 2023 runway in October along with models wearing makeup depicting bruising.
In addition to the props used in the shoot, social media users were quick to point out additional details in the campaign, which was shot by National Geographic photographer Gabriele Galimberti, known for shooting kids and his “Toy Stories” project. A viral tweet noted that the photoshoot was “interesting” and “included a very purposely poorly hidden court document about ‘virtual child porn.'” Upon zooming in, fans found that the papers used as props for the shoot were from the 2008 Supreme Court case, United States v. Williams, which focused on child sexual abuse. The viral tweet also pointed out that Balenciaga took down the controversial campaign due to the backlash. However, those familiar with the fashion brand will know that it wipes its Instagram account on a regular basis for each campaign launch.
the brand “Balenciaga” just did a uh….. interesting… photoshoot for their new products recently which included a very purposely poorly hidden court document about ‘virtual child porn’
— shoe (@shoe0nhead) November 21, 2022
normal stuff pic.twitter.com/zjMN5WhZ0s
The campaign has been taken down on all of Balenciaga’s platforms since. The house took to Instagram Stories to issue an official apology:
“We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms. 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. We strongly condemn abuse of children in any form. We stand for children safety and well-being.”
Balenciaga via Instagram Stories
Highsnobiety tried to clear up that those two images appeared in two separate campaigns one for ‘Objects’ the other for a Balenciaga x adidas campaign.
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