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Why are people mad at Balenciaga? Five things to know about the ad campaign controversy.

Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga has been in hot water since last week following public backlash for an ad campaign featuring children holding bags that looked like teddy bears dressed in bondage gear.

A woman walks by a boarded up Balenciaga store in June 2020 on Madison Avenue in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
A woman walks by a boarded up Balenciaga store in June 2020 on Madison Avenue in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)Read moreMark Lennihan / AP

Balenciaga — a luxury fashion brand known recently for dressing Kim Kardashian and collaborating with The Simpsons and Adidas — is in hot water following problematic ad campaigns. One campaign featured children interacting with teddy bears dressed in what appeared to be bondage gear. The other showed a handbag placed on top of legal documents related to child pornography.

After social media outcry, the campaigns were scrapped, a prestigious award was rescinded, celebrities spoke out, and Balenciaga filed a lawsuit against the production company behind the ads.

Here are five things you need to know about the drama.

How did all of this begin?

Balenciaga said that the controversial ads involving teddy bears were part of its 2022 holiday campaign. Pictured in the since-removed photos, were children clutching handbags that look like fuzzy teddy bears, wearing what looked like bondage gear, including studded leather pieces and padlocks.

It’s not the fashion brand’s first venture into products typically marketed toward kids. In 2017, the company launched a collaboration with Colette featuring plush animals in Balenciaga T-shirts. The collection ranged in price from $145-$190.

But these teddy bear handbags wore black fishnet tops and black leather straps.

According to The New York Times, the campaign was shot by Italian documentary and National Geographic photographer Gabriele Galimberti. It was his first fashion campaign. Galimberti photographed six children who held the teddy bear purses. They were surrounded by wine glasses, chains and other Balenciaga accessories. That campaign launched on Nov. 16.

Five days later, a second campaign — Balenciaga’s 2023 Spring campaign with Adidas — launched featuring photos of a collaboration purse placed in an office environment, on top of a desk of legal papers. Eagle-eyed critics highlighted that one of the documents under the $3,000 Balenciaga x Adidas Hourglass handbag was a printed copy of the Supreme Court’s 2008 U.S. v. Williams decision. That case examined if child pornography promotion was protected by free speech.

What did the backlash look like?

Criticism of both campaigns took off on social media. Some suggested the whole thing was a shock-and-awe publicity stunt.

Critics said the timing of the two campaigns wasn’t a coincidence. On Twitter and Instagram, users said the fashion brand was glamorizing child pornography and abuse.

Fashion commentary outlets, like Diet Prada, picked up the story. As online news spread, right-leaning media outlets including Fox News covered the ad campaigns. On Tucker Carlson Tonight, the host said Balenciaga was “promoting kiddie porn and sex with children ... right out in the open.”

On Twitter, users started a #BoycottBalenciaga campaign. Former fans filmed themselves throwing away items by the designer and called on others to do the same. A prestigious award set to go to Demna — the brand’s artistic director — was rescinded by Business of Fashion.

Galimberti, the teddy bear campaign photographer, said he has received hate mail, death threats, and gig cancelations.

“At the moment, nobody wants to be associated with my name because my name is associated with the word pedophilia everywhere,” Galimberti told The New York Times. “I’ve been working on my personal projects for 25 years, and then everything is destroyed by this campaign. I’m not sleeping well. My family’s completely worried.”

Who let these campaigns happen?

It depends.

For the teddy bear campaign, Galimberti said Balenciaga staff selected all the details and were present for the two-day photoshoot. In a statement Monday, Balenciaga said it should not have opted to use children in the photos.

“This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images,” the statement posted on Instagram said. “The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone.”

For the 2023 Spring campaign with Adidas, Balenciaga said the production company and set designer involved are at fault.

Last Thursday, the fashion brand filed a $25 million lawsuit against the production company, North Six, and the set designer, Nicholas Des Jardins, for reckless acts. As noted by the New York Times, Balenciaga officials are claiming that the document props were placed in the photos without their knowledge, leading to a damaging association between the brand and child pornography.

Des Jardins’ lawyer told the Times that the documents came from a prop house and were supposed to be “fake office documents.” In a statement about this campaign, Balenciaga said the documents “turned out to be real papers most likely coming from the filming of a television drama.”

Des Jardins’ lawyer added that the set designer was not responsible for image selection from the photo shoot and that Balenciaga representatives were on set, “overseeing it and handling papers and other props.”

Days after filing the lawsuit, Balenciaga’s statement said the brand takes “full accountability for the lack of oversight and control.”

On Friday, Demna broke his silence on the controversy, posting a statement on Instagram.

“I want to personally apologize for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with the kids [holding the teddy bears] and I take my responsibility,” he wrote. “As much as I would sometimes like to provoke a thought through my work, I would NEVER have an intention to do that with cush an awful subject as child abuse that I condemn. Period.”

The artistic director added that he planned to “listen and engage” with child protection organizations and learn how to help their mission. He said Balenciaga will take “adequate measures” to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

Where does Kim Kardashian fall into all of this?

Kardashian is considered one of Balenciaga’s main current ambassadors. She began her relationship with the brand when she was dating Kanye West, whom she later married and then divorced. (West was also connected to the brand until his recent antisemitic comments.) Many of Kardashian’s monochromatic bodysuits — complete with gloves and boots — were designed by the fashion house.

When the fallout against Balenciaga began, critics pushed for Kardashian to speak out.

On Sunday, Kardashian posted a statement on Twitter.

“As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images,” Kardashian said. “The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society — period.”

Kardashian said she appreciated the steps Balenciaga took to remove the campaign and apologize. But she didn’t cut ties with the brand.

“I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand, basing it off their willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened to begin with — & the actions I am expecting to see them take to protect children,” Kardashian wrote.

What happens next?

It’s unclear what the long-term fallout for Balenciaga will look like. Its reputation could be significantly hurt by this, but the brand also has a history for being “provocative” and pushing the line.

As noted by the New York Times, the fashion house was estimated to bring in $1.81 billion in sales last year. Now, main components of its latest collection — particularly the teddy bear handbags — are not listed for sale on the company’s website. It’s unclear if the bears were ever listed or what they would have sold for.

And while some celebrities are speaking out against the brand, others who have partnered with Balenciaga over the years remain silent, drawing criticism. Bella Hadid and Nicole Kidman in particular have been slammed on social media for not denouncing the brand. Neither appeared to have made any public statement as of Tuesday.