The inventive director of Balenciaga has issued a private assertion a couple of controversial advert the style firm apologized for final week. Demna Gvasalia mentioned in an Instagram submit Friday that he wished to “personally apologize” for an advert marketing campaign that featured youngsters holding teddy bear baggage outfitted in what seems to be bondage gear.
“I take my responsibility,” the 41-year-old designer, who goes by his first identify, wrote. “It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.”
“As much as I would sometimes like to provoke a thought through my work, I would NEVER have an intention to do that with such an awful subject as child abuse that I condemn. Period,” his submit continued, including that he must study from this and can interact with little one safety organizations.
Many criticized the advert as disturbing, because it confirmed youngsters holding teddy bear baggage which had been outfitted with chains, fishnet stockings and different gear. Demna mentioned he apologizes to anybody offended by the visuals, and that Balenciaga will take steps to keep away from related errors and “take accountability in protecting child welfare in every way we can.”
In an announcement Monday, Balenciaga apologized for the marketing campaign, and mentioned it eliminated the advertisements from all platforms, including that the “plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign.”
In the identical assertion, Balenciaga additionally apologized for a separate advert that sparked an uproar this week, which featured a handbag sitting on a desk with paperwork strewn about. One doc is from a courtroom case regarding little one pornography.
That advert “was meant to replicate a business office environment,” Balenciaga mentioned in its assertion. “All the items included in this shooting were provided by third parties that confirmed in writing that these props were fake office documents. They turned out to be real legal papers most likely coming from the filming of a television drama.”
Balenciaga filed a $25 million lawsuit this week in opposition to North Six, the manufacturing firm that produced the “office environment” marketing campaign. North Six confirmed to CBS MoneyWatch that it managed the advert shoot, however didn’t remark additional.
Kim Kardashian, who has labored with Balenciaga up to now, mentioned in an announcement Monday that she is “re-evaluating” her relationship with the corporate within the wake of the 2 advert campaigns. She tweeted that, as a mom of 4, she was “shaken by the disturbing images,” and that she appreciates the model’s elimination of the campaigns.
Demna appeared alongside Kardashian on the crimson carpet on the Met Gala in September 2021, throughout which they each wore face masks from the style home.
Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images
