Fashion brand Balenciaga has apologized after debuting two ad campaigns that created controversy for being suggestive of child sexual abuse themes.
One of the ad campaigns features images of child models with adult fetish-themed plush bear bags, and a separate campaign includes imagery of a U.S. Supreme Court case document related to child sexual abuse material.
Following the online backlash to the images, which were used in different ad campaigns—one for Balenciaga Objects and the other for its Spring 23 collection—the company deleted the campaign featuring the young child models from its social media platforms.
“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,” Balenciaga said in a statement on Instagram, shared by Demna Gvasalia, the company’s creative director….