Balenciaga Gets Cuffed For Alarming Campaign Of Kids With ‘Bondage’ Stuffed Toys
Photo 248425868 © Roman Zaiets | Dreamstime.com
Balenciaga walks a tightrope between avant-garde and outrageous, but this time it’s crossed the line to the point where fans can defend its creative direction no longer.
The Spanish luxury house has triggered public concern after rolling out a campaign with sexual undertones of innocent children hugging teddy bears in what looks to be BDSM attire. The stuffed toys are dressed in accessories like fishnet legging and leather harnesses, bringing to mind the bondage fetish.
Balenciaga using photos of little girls playing with teddy bears dressed in bondage gear on their website. Lovely. pic.twitter.com/mYnt0CJuif
— Slarty Bartfast (@DatCatDer) November 20, 2022
The shoot appears to be a spinoff of Gabriele Galimberti’s Toy Stories series, in which the photographer travels around the globe to capture children and their belongings in their bedrooms. Galimberti was commissioned by the brand to create the photos.
Even more startlingly, a court document on child pornography laws can be seen among the jumble of objects in one of the photographs. Eagle-eyed social media users have pointed out that the paperwork refers to The Protect ACT, which dictates that sexually-explicit images of children are illegal even if they’re not perceived by some as pornographic.
Earlier this month, Balenciaga deleted its Twitter account, presumably in response to Elon Musk’s takeover of the bird app. However, its other social media accounts are still up and running.
Following the backlash spawned by its contentious photo shoot, the company took down the offending images and had left its Instagram feed bare. Since then, Balenciaga has replaced them with photos of adults in office settings, though it has limited comments.
the brand "Balenciaga" just did a uh..... interesting... photoshoot for their new products recently which included a very purposely poorly hidden court document about 'virtual child porn'
— shoe (@shoe0nhead) November 21, 2022
normal stuff pic.twitter.com/zjMN5WhZ0s
I’ve never been one to “cancel” but fashion brand Balenciaga needs to be shut down.
— Xaviaer DuRousseau (@XAVIAERD) November 21, 2022
They used a CHILD in a BDSM themed photoshoot and have court documents discussing child p*rnography “visibly hidden” in the photos.
This is a new low for society and a not-so-new high for Satan. pic.twitter.com/gx3WhlKKiX
[via Glamour and New York Post, images via various sources]
