The Kering-owned French brand has come under fire after campaign showed children posing with teddy bears in what appeared to be bondage gear
Businesswoman, social media titan and reality show star Kim Kardashian said she is “re-evaluating” her involvement with luxury fashion house Balenciaga, after it apologised for adverts featuring children holding teddy bears wearing what critics called bondage gear.
The French brand, part of the luxury Kering group, last week withdrew the photos from the spring-summer 2023 advertising campaign. Two of them showed young children holding handbags in the shape of teddy bears, which were wearing black leather straps with silver studs.
Internet commentators noticed another photo from a Balenciaga-Adidas ad collaboration showed printed documents from a US Supreme Court ruling on child pornography.
After that revelation, Balenciaga filed a US$25 million lawsuit against the company that produced the advertisements, according to reports.
“As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images,” Kardashian, a celebrity ambassador for the brand, wrote on Instagram on Sunday night, adding that she had spent the last few days talking with the Balenciaga team “to understand for myself how this could have happened”.
“The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalise child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society—period,” she wrote.
“As for my future with Balenciaga, I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand,” the star posted to her account, which has 74 million followers.
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