Leather strap, chain, padlock! Fashion giant stops spooky ad campaign that exploits children

Spanish fashion brand Balenciaga’s latest advertising campaign has become the focus of reactions. In the images on the company’s website, the plush teddy bears in the hands of two small children drew attention. The wearing of figures such as leather straps, leather bracelets, chains and padlocks symbolizing captivity on the teddy bears drew the reaction of the parents.

HARD REACTION FROM PARENTS

The parents lashed out at Balenciaga, saying the black lace on the plush toy looked like a thong. It was seen that the blue toy bag in the background of the picture was also wrapped with leather bands.

“NO ONE THOUGHT ‘ONE MINUTE'”

One Twitter user responded, “It’s scary how many adults are involved in this. Parents, photographers, creative directors, copywriters, design agency workers, producers, executives, advertisers… and none of them thought ‘wait a minute’.”

“THIS IS VERY SCARY AND WRONG”

Here’s how social media users reacted to Balenciaga: “Oh my god, this is so creepy and wrong.”, “They’re shocking to get attention for overpriced trash. It’s like a social experiment on how ridiculous the products are but still people buy the trash .”, “This idea is disgusting and on the verge of immorality.”, “What makes this child’s parents think this is just any normality that I can’t understand?”, “This is a very disturbing image.”

“WE HAVE REMOVED THE CAMPAIGN FROM ALL PLATFORMS”

After the backlash, Balenciaga took a step back. The company said in a statement on its Instagram account that they stopped the advertising campaign. The statement said: “We sincerely apologize for any flaws our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been with children in this campaign. We immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.”