PHOTO: COURTESY BALENCIAGA; PEOPLE
The recent holiday 2022 luxury fashion brand Balenciaga campaign has caused backlash accusing of child exploitation.
The Gift Shop campaign, shot by Gabriele Galimberti, shows a child with the aforementioned teddy bear bag, surrounded by inappropriate accessories, including a chain leash and a dog collar choker.
Twitter users called out promotional imagery from the brand’s previous Adidas collaboration that included what looked like an excerpt from the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling United States v. Williams, which upheld penalties for the sexual exploitation of children and additional forms of child abuse.
The campaign initially launched earlier this month to broadcast Balenciaga’s latest objects, claiming that the shoot iterated on Galimberti’s Toy Stories series, which explores “what people collect and receive as gifts.”
Just last week, Balenciaga officially left Twitter, following Elon Musk‘s acquisition. Twitter users speculated that the timing of the brand’s departure was odd, though it did not reflect any backlash to the Gift Shop campaign. The Demna-led label’s decision to drop the platform came after several major companies, including General Motors and Dyson, had suspended their advertising campaigns on Twitter.
Written by Editor in chief, Jesica Ramirez