Balenciaga, children and BDSM teddy bears

KARACHI: Fashion is known to push boundaries. But what happens when those boundaries are pushed way too far? Well, you end up in the midst of some incredible amounts of backlash like fashion house Balenciaga has had to face over these past few days. Controversy shrouded Balenciaga with their recent advertisement featuring kids and teddy bears in bondage gear which also lead to a second scandal and has ended up as a court case. Here is all that you need to know about the current Balenciaga controversy.

The luxury fashion house came under scrutiny when pictures from their latest holiday shoot made rounds on the internet. The pictures featured children holding bags shaped like teddy bears. Except that the teddy bears were wearing BDSM gear including a bear with a wrist and ankle restraint with a lock and chain around its neck. Naturally, people were outraged and it did not take long for Balenciaga to pull back the ad and issue an apology which read, “We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.”

One would think that one controversy was enough for Balenciaga but apparently it wasn’t because not long after their apology, they found themselves in hot water over another advertisement. This time, eagle eyed critics spotted a printout of the 2008 United States v. Williams court decision, which ruled on the constitutionality of a law that criminalized advertising, promoting or distributing child pornography even if the underlying material did not constitute child pornography.

Balenciaga was forced to issue a second apology which also shifted the blame to production company North Six, Inc. and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins. The statement explained, “All the items included in this shooting were provided by third parties that confirmed in writing these props were fake office documents.”

While Balenciaga has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the production house following the controversy, Twitter has been flooded with posts with the hashtag #BalenciagaGate as people are expressing their disgust with the brand.