Fashion brand Balenciaga has been forced to apologise for a bondage-themed Christmas campaign featuring a child and an excerpt from Supreme Court ruling on child pornography.
The ad campaign for the brand’s collaboration with Adidas uses the Supreme Court opinion in child pornography as a prop promoting a handbag and, in a separate photoshoot, features a child holding a teddy bear dressed in a BDSM outfit.
The globally-renowned Spanish fashion house, who dresses the likes of Kim Kardashian-West, released a statement apologising for the shoot and seemingly laying the blame on Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti, suggesting they would take legal action against him and anyone else involved.
The statement reads: 'We sincerely apologise for any offence 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 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 well-being.'
The offending photoshoot was displayed on Balenciaga’s website as part of its “Toy Stories” campaign.
Child models posed with the brand’s teddy bear handbags from its Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2023 collection.
The plush toys were dressed in bondage and BDSM gear, including collars with locks, leather harnesses, and fishnet tops.
The photographer, who has previously worked with the likes of National Geographic, addressed the criticism in a statement posted to his Instagram.
The photographer felt “compelled to make” the statement following the “hundreds of hate mails and messages I received as a result of the photos I took for the Balenciaga campaign”.
He also clarified that he has “no connection” with the Balenciaga photos in which a “Supreme Court document appears”.
“I am not in a position to comment Balenciaga’s choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same,” he said.
“As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style. As usual for a commercial shooting, the direction of the campaign and the choice of the objects displayed are not in the hands of the photographer.”
Unsurprisingly, the campaign images have caused outrage on social media.
"Frightening how many adults must have been involved in this," one Twitter user commented. "Parents, photographers, creative directors, copywriters, design agency staff, producers, managers, advertisers… and not one of them thought, 'hang on a minute?'"
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