Balenciaga has faced growing outrage ever since the luxury fashion house released its Spring 2023 ad campaign which featured child models posing with bondage-themed teddy bears.
Reality star Kim Kardashian, who is a mother of four, became the latest public figure to speak out about the photo shoot when she recently declared that she's both "disgusted" and "outraged" by the campaign.
Balenciaga has apologized for the shoot last week, although that hasn't stopped the outrage.
Here's everything that has happened so far with the Balenciaga campaign and what Kardashian had to say about it.
What did the Balenciaga campaign do?
The pictures released by Balenciaga were part of two recent campaigns, one of which featured child models sporting the brand's clothes and posing with the brand's teddy bear-shaped bags, reported BBC.
The seemingly innocent-looking stuffed bear-shaped accessories were wearing fetish-themed items like leather harnesses and other bondage items.
In two of the pictures, the children were shown hugging the teddy bear backpacks.
Balenciaga started posting images of the campaign on its social media on November 16 but took the photos down due to the backlash.
Since then, people have analyzed other campaigns done by the brand and found that a previous photoshoot also featured some questionable props.
In a past photoshoot, which was a collaboration between Balenciaga and Adidas, Balenciaga featured documents about a U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding indecent images of children, as a prop.
Has Balenciaga apologized?
Balenciaga apologized to the public via its Instagram stories and took responsibility for the campaign.
"We sincerely apologize for any offence our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear backs should not have been featured with children in this campaign," read the apology.
The luxury brand also apologized about the "unsettling documents" that were featured in one of its campaigns and claimed to "take this matter very seriously and are taking legal action against parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved items" for the Spring 2023 collection.
"We strongly condemn the abuse of children in any form. We stand for children's safety and well-being."
What did Balenciaga's photographer say?
Gabriele Galimberti, who shot the teddy-bear ad, issued his own statement addressing the backlash last week.
"As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style," he wrote in the statement.
"As usual for a commercial shooting, the direction of the campaign and the choice of the objects displayed are not in the hands of the photographer."
He added that he did not choose the products, the models "nor the combination" of them.
What did Kim Kardashian say about Balenciaga?
In light of all the backlash, Kardashian finally made a comment over the weekend.
The reality star took to her social media and expressed disappointment with the brand she recently walked the runway for.
"I have been quiet for the past few days, not because I haven't been disgusted and outraged by the recent Balenciaga campaigns, but because I wanted an opportunity to speak to their team to understand for myself how this could have happened," Kardashian tweeted on Sunday.
"As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images," Kardashian continued. "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."
She went on to acknowledge the brand's apology but added that the status of her relationship with the brand moving forward remains uncertain.
"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."
How did Balenciaga react to Kim Kardashian’s statement?
Since Kardashian released her statement on the matter, Balenciaga has come out with yet another apology and explanation for the ad campaigns.
This time they are taking responsibility for both photoshoots, although they did point some fingers regarding the court documents.
"Our plush bear bags and the gift collection should not have been featured with children," read their statement posted to their Instagram page. "This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined without failure in assessing and validating images. The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone."
The brand claims that the Supreme Court document was provided to them by "third parties that confirmed in writing that these proper were fake office documents."
"They turned out to be real legal papers," continued the statement. "The inclusion of these unapproved documents was the result of reckless negligence for which Balenciaga has filed a complaint."
Balenciaga is also promising to re-evaluate and take action to ensure that such mistakes are not repeated.
The brand then apologized and extended that to include its "talents and partners," in what seems like a nod to Kardashian.
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