But let’s get to the point. For several days we have all been talking about the Balenciaga Christmas campaign where you can see several children with accessories and objects from bdsm (sadomasochism), such as harnesses and chains that refer to aesthetics bondage. And the criticism for sexualizing minors and promoting pedophilia was not long in coming.
The result was that the scandalous campaign generated worldwide repudiation, social networks went up in flames and quickly became a trend on Twitter. With this scenario, the brand came out to apologize publicly in its Instagram stories, removing the photos that are already viral.
“We sincerely apologize for any offense our Christmas campaign may have caused (…) We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms,” Balenciaga wrote. He added: “We take this matter very seriously and are taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved elements for our photo shoot (…) We strongly condemn child abuse in any form. We stand up for the safety and well-being of children.” And here I make a point and aside.
“…we are taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved elements for our photo shoot…” Really? Is it someone else’s fault? In campaigns of this type and especially for brands of this magnitude, there are many filters to go through, too many people involved, that is, someone thought of it, another approved it, another did the casting of those guys, another took the photos, and I can keep listing. Did anyone find it weird, at least? There wasn’t a person who realized that this was more than disruptive, unpleasant, disrespectful and even cruel, no one?
It is not the first time that Balenciaga, owned by the luxury conglomerate Kering, has been embroiled in a controversy of international proportions. This year, the firm was heavily questioned for putting up for sale a tote bag pretending to be a $1,790 garbage bag and a limited collection of sneakers broken and worn which I talked about in another previous column.
Materials abound, and I include myself, of whom we talk about how the world has changed mind set of the consumer, their new ways of connecting with brands, of choosing and what things to take into account when buying. However, Balenciaga is valued by users, so it is worth asking, what is the meeting point in which we identify ourselves when we choose this type of brand? What are we demanding of brands when we ask them to take a position on issues that are crucial to the global agenda?
According to some studies, when a brand is canceled or boycotted because as we say in my country “anyone was sent”, the first thing that is expected is that they apologize publicly. Balenciaga did it, but is it enough? Let me hesitate because I don’t think I know Excuse me, aware of the blunder they made, they apologize because the networks burned down and exposed them.
Currently, Balenciaga’s Instagram profile does not contain any posts on his feedonly featured stories with statements about the campaign. It is common for them to delete their photos from this network, it is part of their provocative imprint True to Oscar Wilde’s well-known phrase, “there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about”, but it was clear that it is not that way. Today it is Balenciaga, because it went viral, but that the tree does not cover the forest for us, there are many who are wrong (and very ugly) and are as or more well-known.