In opposition to the fashion house’s holiday campaign, which featured kids holding stuffed animals with leather harnesses, some TikTok users are destroying Balenciaga handbags, shoes, and other opulent goods.
Because the teddy bears seemed to be sporting kink attire, the campaign was criticized as being inappropriate and damaging to children. Another Balenciaga ad image appeared to feature a passage from a 2008 Supreme Court judgment that upheld federal regulations against pornography that includes children.
Last month, Balenciaga apologized for the campaign and claimed on Instagram that it hadn’t reviewed the images prior to the campaign’s launch. It also declared that it would file a lawsuit.
“We apologize for displaying unsettling documents in our campaign. We take this matter very seriously and are taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved items for our Spring 23 campaign photoshoot,” the company said in the statement. “We strongly condemn abuse of children in any form. We stand for children safety and well-being.”
The business deleted the pictures of kids holding the leather-coated teddy bears from its social media pages.
“Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign,” the company said. “We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.”
Despite the apologies, many people online have remained incensed, including content creators and famous people like Kim Kardashian.
Formerly devoted Balenciaga producers created videos criticizing it on TikTok. Some went one step farther and videotaped themselves damaging Balenciaga goods worth thousands of dollars.
Requests for comment from Kering, the French luxury goods company that owns Balenciaga, were not immediately returned.
One designer set fire to her Balenciaga sock shoes. Creator kermitnotkaren made a video of herself ripping apart a hoodie from Balenciaga. Singlemomattorney founder Gianna Avalos posted a video of herself cutting her leather tote, which she referred to as her “everyday bag,” on YouTube.
The nail technician and YouTuber thenailaddict Devin Strebler released a video of herself dumping numerous pairs of Balenciaga sneakers into a trash can. She stated that she will eventually sell or donate them in her caption, adding that she wanted to inspire others to “stop supporting these horrible companies and celebrities that promote terrible things behind the scenes.”
“Happy Thanksgiving to everyone except for Balenciaga. Child exploitation is never okay, I hope everyone involved gets exposed one day,” Strebler wrote. “And for the record, I will be donating these or selling them- because I do understand that people need shoes.”
Interior designer Brian Brown posted a video online in which he took out the emblem on his Balenciaga backpack but refrained from really destroying it.
“It’s shocking to me that you can stand up to antisemitism (which I applaud you for), then turn around and release an ad campaign that sexualizes children and glamorizes the sexual abuse of them. You’re total trash,” Brown wrote in the caption.
Some jokingly claimed that they never paid for genuine Balenciaga goods because their phony “luxury” handbags looked just as good.
As referenced in a video by TikTok creator kbinluxury, “When your friends ask if you’re cancelling Balenciaga but you got yours from DHG8 anyway,” refers to the Chinese e-commerce site famous for its high-end knockoffs. “They never got a coin from me.”
