Balenciaga ad backlash

All you need to know about the brand’s recent controversy

SATVIKA NITYA / ASST. A&C EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

The luxury fashion house Balenciaga has taken the media by storm after being accused of condoning child exploitation and pedophilia through the release of two recent ad campaigns. With the phrase #cancelBalenciaga trending across major platforms such as Twitter and TikTok, the backlash against the campaigns has been swift, and several celebrities and public figures are speaking out against the brand.

Ever since Demna Gvasalia —  the artistic director of Balenciaga — took up the role in 2015, the brand has been in and out of controversies in the fashion world, often intentionally. From sending models who looked like refugees down the runway with trash bags made of leather and putting heels on crocs to remaking IKEA’s 99-cent shopping bag as a luxury good and selling destroyed sneakers for $1,850, the brand has crossed several lines and broken multiple boundaries. But the release of the brand’s new holiday campaign, ‘Balenciaga’s Gift Shop,’ took public criticism to another level. 

The campaign was published on Nov. 16 and featured six children clutching destroyed teddy bear handbags with what looked like BDSM-inspired accessories. The fluffy bears had black eyes and were dressed in bondage harnesses and fishnet tops surrounded by wine glasses and chains, all of which were part of Balenciaga’s show at Paris Fashion Week.  

Five days after publishing this campaign, the brand released its 2023 Garde-Robe advertising campaign with one of its images showcasing printed copies of the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in U.S. v. Williams in the background. This ruling upheld the PROTECT Act., increasing federal protections against child pornography and Balenciaga’s inclusion of this document was received as the brand’s attempt to promote a child pornography campaign.

Both these campaigns quickly sparked concerns all over social media and were eventually picked up by the prime-time Fox News show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” Carlson’s coverage linked Balenciaga’s campaigns to QAnon, the popular right-wing conspiracy theory that a group of Satan-worshiping elites who run a child sex ring are trying to control the politics and media.

USD junior Joee Cortina talked about her initial reaction and thoughts after seeing the images from the campaign.

“It is definitely unethical,” Cortina said. “I don’t know how they couldn’t have seen the obvious issues with it and still released it. This backlash should’ve been expected. With luxury brands, the people that they’re targeting seem to be in a different world and it seems like they don’t really care about issues like this. Which is why Balenciaga felt entitled to post this.”

On Nov. 24, Balenciaga released two statements on Instagram addressing and apologizing for the messages conveyed by both their campaigns. The brand took full responsibility for pairing the plush teddy bears with children in their holiday campaign. But for their second campaign, they claimed that the Supreme Court documents were placed in the campaign photographs without their knowledge and led to false associations between Balenciaga and child pornography.

One day after these statements were put out, Balenciaga filed a $25 million lawsuit against the production company North Six and Nicholas Des Jardins, the designers responsible for including the documents on the set for the Garde-Robe campaign. However, in a statement released on Dec. 1, the brand declared that it would not pursue any litigation and announced its measures to improve and dissolve the damage caused by its campaigns. 

Additionally, the campaign and the products featured in it have been taken down by Balenciaga, and Demna released a personal statement through Instagram, apologizing for the poor “artistic choices” he made. However, many claim that this is not enough.

“Even if the brand didn’t know that those documents were used, they were involved in post-production and the actual release,” Cortina said. “[Balenciaga] putting out statements isn’t enough, and it’s not going to change anything. It’s just words and the bare minimum. Maybe firing Demna or having harsher regulations would be a better move.”

Kim Kardashian, a long-standing ambassador for Balenciaga, broke silence over the controversy and announced that she was reevaluating her relationship with the brand and reportedly turned down a 2023 campaign offer. 

USD sophomore Jesalin Diaz considers herself a huge fan of Kardashian but did not agree with her actions.

“With the platform [Kardashian] has, she should’ve made it a bigger deal,” Diaz said. “I love Kim, and I didn’t even know about this whole controversy until very recently. This is a big issue and as a mother of four, she didn’t press the issue enough and stayed very diplomatic. I know that she might’ve signed contracts and stuff, but she should’ve taken a stand.”

Despite Balenciaga taking responsibility for their “Balenciaga’s Gift Shop’” campaign, Gabriele Galimberti, the photographer for the campaign, took a huge hit, receiving hate mail and death threats. Galimberti claimed —and the brand confirmed — that his job was just to take photos and he had no part in the design or decisions made on set.

The campaigns not only impacted Galimberti and other companies involved but also caused reactions around the world. In London, a street artist defaced the storefront of a Balenciaga flagship, stenciling “pedophilia” on one of the windows. Reports of several instances of defacing have surfaced since the release of the campaign, accurately depicting the public outrage and disapproval of Balenciaga’s recent actions.