Can you blame the production company for everything?
The luxury fashion house Balenciaga found itself in the public spotlight after the launch of scandalous campaigns that, for a reason, raised dust and horrified the public. Although we are used to controversy from Balenciaga, this time they went too far. Namely, one advertising campaign includes photos of children holding toys with S&M details in their hands, while the other campaign includes court documents on child pornography, and one of the photos can be seen with a book with the name of the Belgian painter Michaël Borremans, among whose works are shocking paintings of children.
How did it start?
On November 16, Balenciaga released a Gift Shop campaign, shot by Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti in October. The photos from this campaign show six children holding bags in the shape of teddy bears with S&M leather details on them, and various objects such as dog collars (chokers), leashes, and alcohol... can be seen around the children.
Not long after the Gift Shop campaign was released on social media, the photos sparked outrage and disgust from audiences who resented the depiction of children in content with sexual connotations. However, the brand did not stop with the controversial photos even after the public's accusations, and only 5 days later, on November 21st, they released the second Garde-Robe campaign, which contains a series of images in which you can allegedly see court documents related to the Supreme Court's decision on the laws on child pornography.
Famous model Bella Hadid and actress Nicole Kidman participated in the Garde-Robe campaign, and the photos were supposed to represent an office environment. However, the items found in the photos do not at all resemble a classic office environment. One of the photos shows a Balenciaga x Adidas Hourglass bag with the 2008 US v. Williams Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of child pornography laws. The photo of Isabelle Huppert posing in an office in Manhattan also caught the public's attention, and in the background you can see a book with the name of the Belgian painter Michaël Borremans, who is known, among other things, for his paintings of castrated children and children covered in blood.
Destroying Balenciaga creations on TikTok
As a sign of protest against the campaign, TikTokers showed in their videos destroying Balenciaga bags, sneakers, shoes, and other luxury items worth several thousand dollars each. The hashtag #cancelbalenciaga has over 260 million views on TikTok, and people are discussing the images used in the campaigns.
The culprit is the production company
In one of the apologies on Balenciaga's Instagram profile, it was stated: „We apologize 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 forms. We stand for children safety and well-being.“
Based on their words, it turns out that the production company North Six, Inc. is responsible for the scandalous campaign and the use of "unapproved" items. The fashion brand filed a lawsuit against them, demanding $25 million in damages.
Representative of set designer Nicolas Des Jardins from production company North Six, Inc. Stated: “Everyone from Balenciaga was on the shoot and was present on every shot and worked on the edit of every image in post-production.”
Photographer Gabriele Galimberti, who shot the campaign involving children, stated on his Instagram profile: „I am not in a position to comment [on] Balenciaga's choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose (sic) the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same. As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit (sic) the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style. As usual, the direction of the campaign and of the shooting are not on the hands of the photographer.“
The public was bothered by the fact that Balenciaga was shifting the responsibility to another party. The brand "washed its hands" by saying that it had no control during the campaign shooting, but it is well known that without the approval of the brand's marketing team photos or videos for any type of marketing campaign cannot be published. The photographer and set designer are not creative directors, which is why, to the audience, the "justification" of Balenciaga seemed to be an insult to intelligence.
Balenciaga dropped the lawsuit against the production company
On December 2nd, the brand published an updated statement on its Instagram profile, in which it states, among other things, that it is no longer pursuing a $25 million lawsuit against the production company North Six, Inc. and its set designer who was involved in the Garde-Robe campaign. In the statement, they stated the actions that the brand will take, such as: improving content validation processes; appointing an image board responsible for evaluating all content from concept to final asset including legal, sustainability, and diversity expertise; appointing an external agency to evaluate content; reorganizing its image department to ensure full alignment with corporate guidelines; creating internal training programs on responsible communication; engaging with advocacy groups to protect children, and creating a fund for grants to organizations that protect children.
Author: Katarina Stanković, Content Manager
https://www.thecut.com/2022/12/what-to-know-about-the-balenciaga-ad-scandal.html
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/balenciaga-bondage-bears-intl-scli/index.html
