Balenciaga is sorry.
The fashion brand has released a lengthy statement addressing the huge backlash over their controversial bondage bear campaign. Their extensive apology comes just days after they issued an initial apology.
Balenciaga came under fire for a series of images from the recent fashion campaign that showed young children next to wine glasses and clutching backpacks that had bears seemingly dressed in bondage. They likewise received backlash form an image that featured the Supreme Court ruling from “United States v. Williams” about child pornography.
The lengthy apology from Balenciaga began by stating that child abuse was never part of their narrative:
“We would like to address the controversies surrounding our recent ad campaigns. We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in our narrative. The two separate ad campaigns in question reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility.
The first campaign, the gift collection campaign, featured children with plush bear bags dressed in what some have labelled BDSM-inspired outfits. Our plush bear bags and the gift collection should not have been featured with children. This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images. The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone.”
They also addressed the “reckless negligence” from those that crafted the campaign:
“The second, separate campaign for spring 2023, which was meant to replicate a business office environment, included a photo with a page in the background from a Supreme Court ruling ‘United States v. Williams’ 2008 which confirms as illegal and not protected by Freedom of Speech the promotion of child pornography. All the items included in this shooting were provided by third parties that confirmed in writing that these props were fake office documents. They turned out to be real legal papers most likely coming from the filming of a television drama.
The inclusion of these unapproved documents was the result of reckless negligence for which Balenciaga has filed a complaint. We take full accountability for our lack of oversight and control of the documents in the background and we could have done things differently.”
Balenciaga revealed that they are taking three actions, the first of which is:
“We are closely revising our organization and collective ways of working.”
Secondly, they said:
“[We are] reinforcing the structures around our creative processes and validation steps. We want to ensure that new controls mark a pivot and will prevent this from happening again.”
And finally:
“We are laying the groundwork with organizations who specialize in child protection and aims at ending child abuse and exploitation.”
Balenciaga concluded by extending their apologies:
“We want to learn from our mistakes and identify ways we can contribute. Balenciaga reiterates its sincere apologies for the offense we have caused and extends its apologies to talents and partners.”
