Balenciaga, the luxury fashion house, reiterated its apologies and strongly condemned child abuse after almost a week of receiving furious backlash and criticisms from the public over their recent holiday campaign featuring children and teddy bears.
In a released statement Monday posted on its Instagram account, Balenciaga again admitted its mistakes and apologized for the controversial ad.
"We strongly condemn child abuse; we never intended to include it in our narrative.Our plush bear bags and the gift collection should not have been featured with children. This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images. The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone. Balenciaga reiterates its sincere apologies for the offense we have caused and extends its apologies to talents and partners," the fashion brand stated, as quoted by Newsweek.
Further, it has emphasized that its team is "laying the groundwork" with organizations working for child protection and those aiming to end child abuse and exploitation. They want to learn from their mistakes and find ways to contribute.
Not the first time
Balenciaga released its holiday ad campaign last week, and the public did not like it.
The controversial ad featured young children with the brand's newest teddy bear handbags dressed in what the people are describing as "BDSM (bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, sadism and masochism)-inspired outfits" with leather harnesses, collars, and fishnet shirts, which have since been removed from all platforms.
Moreover, empty wine glasses were seen on the table in front of the child models. The public is angry, saying it is never okay to "sexualize children," CNN reported.
Part of the fashion brand's statement was an apology and an explanation over another campaign ad for Spring 2023, where social media users saw a legal document in the background from a 2008 Supreme Court ruling, "United States v. Williams," which ruled on child porn laws.
Balenciaga insisted that the campaign was "meant to replicate a business office environment" and was not aware of the props used in the shoot as they were provided by third parties, who confirmed in writing that they were "fake office documents." Unfortunately, the papers turned out to be actual legal documents.
The fashion brand has already filed a complaint against the third parties whose work they described as "reckless negligence."
It emphasized further that it takes "full accountability" for its lack of control of the documents, admitting that if only there were no oversight, it could have "done things differently."
Kim Kardashian Speaks up as a mother
The reiteration of the brand's apology came after Kim Kardashian, one of its top ambassadors and "biggest allies," opened up about the controversial ad following backlashes of her silence.
The brand ambassador took to her Instagram account to issue a fierce message against the campaign.
According to Marie Claire, she expressed that as a mother of four children, she has been "shaken by those disturbing images." She added that anything against the safety of children should have no place in society, as it must be held with the highest regard.
She further said that she was silent not because she wasn't "disgusted or outraged" by the campaign but because she wanted to hear the team first and understand how the situation came to be.
The fashion icon and entrepreneur also concluded that she is now "re-evaluating" her relationship with the luxury fashion house, basing it on how Balenciaga will handle accountability and ensure that something like this will never happen again and on its willingness and action to protect children.
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