Shauna Lewis
Nov 23, 2022

Balenciaga pulls campaign and apologises after backlash

Holiday gift campaign was shot by photojournalist Gabriel Galimberti.

Balenciaga pulls campaign and apologises after backlash

Balenciaga has apologised after facing criticism for its most recent campaign, which featured children holding teddy bears dressed in bondage gear.

The campaign, shot by photojournalist Gabriel Galimberti, was intended to advertise the brand’s holiday gifting objects, including teddy bears and champagne glasses.

Instead, it was heavily criticised on Twitter, and #cancelbalenciaga currently has 142,600 views on TikTok.

The French fashion brand issued a statement on its Instagram stories and said: “We sincerely apologise 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."

Twitter users also claimed that the campaign used Supreme Court documents on child porn.

The court documents, from a 2008 Supreme Court ruling which upheld penalties for sexual exploitation and child abuse, were actually featured in Balenciaga's "Garde-Robe" Spring 2023 campaign, which debuted this week.

The Instagram statement went on to address the court documents featured in this campaign and added: “We apologise 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 wellbeing.”

Source:
Campaign UK

Related Articles

Just Published

19 hours ago

Valentine's Day 2025 round-up: how UK brands are ...

From 'World dump day' to 'Knorrplay', a look at some of this year's brand love coming out of the UK.

20 hours ago

What India's streaming shakeup means as JioCinema ...

Despite its strengths, the new entity’s biggest challenge will be getting its pricing right in a highly cost-conscious market.

20 hours ago

BuzzFeed to launch new social media platform in ...

The new platform will reposition BuzzFeed from a news and entertainment business to a tech and social media company.

20 hours ago

PepsiCo's $200 million investment brings Cheetos ...

PepsiCo is back with a big investment and a new strategy to take on Indofood's snack supremacy.