Balenciaga has been one of the most thriving brands in the fashion industry, from collaborating with Adidas to having contracts with A-list celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa, and Nicole Kidman. However, if you have been online the last couple of days, you have probably noticed the brand's name on social media trends topics, along with some disturbing pictures featuring two children.
The images above started to circulate online after the campaign was posted on the brand's main site, but what looked like an innocent picture at first glance started to become more disturbing the deeper you looked and analyzed it. At first glance, the kids look like they are holding an innocent bear stuffed animal; however, the bears that were supported to be innocent children's toys are wearing BDMS objects, more specifically, leather harnesses. If you don't know, BDMS stands for an erotic practice that involves role-playing, submission, dominance, discipline, and bondage. If that isn't disturbing enough, through further images, it's possible to see an article with the supreme court decision on child pornography from the Supreme Court Vs. William's case. William basically tried to sell images of his daughter online to an FBI agent without knowing, and when taken to court, his defendant used the Ashcroft Vs. Freedom of speech coalition in the 2002 case in this decision, the court struck down a portion of the child pornography prevents ACT of 1996.
After these images became clear to the public and everyone became aware of the controversy, people started to ask celebrities to speak up on the matter. Few celebrities like Bella Hadid are under contract with the brand, so they can not speak badly or against it publicly, but she has unfollowed the brand on Instagram. Celebrities like Kim K. and Kanye west have publicly issued a statement about the campaign controversy.
image: Kim Kardashian's Instagram comment about the Balenciaga scandal.
However, as I mentioned previously, a lot of celebrities are not talking about the whole scandal. The youngest Kardashian Jenner, for example, was caused of covering for Balenciaga by posting a picture of her son and her. She has come forward and said that she would never use her son to protect the brand.
Image: kyle Jenner TikTok with her son.
After all the controversy around the campaign, Balenciaga took down the campaign from their main website. At the same time, they have issued an apology for the ad, according to multiple websites. However, it's very late since people online are burning, tearing, and destroying their Balenciaga purchases. Personally, I think that we don't need to do that since these items were bought with our own money.
Balenciaga is also suing the PR team that worked with them through the campaign. I believe it's a way of misleading the public and avoiding taking the blame for their actions. Because brands of this magnitude usually have people to oversee every step of any campaign and double-check everything they do. So, for Balenciaga to pretend that the PR company is entirely to blame is honestly equally bad as the campaign itself. I am not a fan of Demna's work at Balenciaga, but I can not lie that they have made a few great shows. In my opinion, the brand will need a big PR company if they intend to get out of this mess.
My advice for you is to be careful what brand you buy and celebrity you idolize etc. Because when we do that, we give someone a voice to say and show who they are. Brands like Balenciaga dictate fashion, and a lot of people can't even express what they think about this madness because of their ties to the brand. Invest your money in a brand carry the same values as you.
see you soon, with love...
Milênia!
Comments