Yesterday, The Critical Reader published a brief article on scandalous ads that were published and then pulled by the fashion house Balenciaga for its spring 2023 collection.
Since then, Balenciaga’s creative director, Demna, issued this statement:
"I want to personally apologize for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with the kids and I take my responsibility. It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them. As much as I would sometimes like to provoke a thought through my work, I would NEVER have an intention to do that with such an awful subject as child abuse that I condemn."
Denma is referring to his decision to photograph young children holding teddy bears wearing sadomasochistic outfits. To refer to that as “the wrong artistic choice” downplays the seriousness of the situation. Choosing to “have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them” does not sound like simply a “wrong choice.” It sounds like a desire to come off as bold and daring, using little kids for the sake of publicity. This was a gross stunt that, thankfully, backfired.
One would think that the controversy would result in Demna or someone from Balenciaga losing their jobs. Instead, Balenciaga has gone the route of “learning from its mistakes,” as this Instagram posts suggests:
The company has initiated an “image board” to evaluate content. Has no one been looking at visuals and content until now? Certainly there is a team that chooses ad campaigns and what to feature in them. That team thought it was okay to show kids holding bondage teddy bears. Is that team being replaced by a group of Puritans, or simply a few people with a sense of common decency?
Balenciaga’s CEO and his team are going on a “listening tour” to discover how advocacy groups protect children. Are we to believe that Cedric Charbit and his team didn’t already know that putting kids in sexually charged photographs is dangerous?
How refreshing to know that Balenciaga does not tolerate “any kind of violence and hate message.” Apparently, the photographs of those kids were meant to promote peace and harmony.
It’s also interesting to note that Balenciaga has decided not to sue the production group North Six and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins for including documents from a child pornography case in photos for a different ad campaign. It was foolish for Balenciaga to try to claim ignorance about what was in the photos.
To be fair, most of us don’t have much interaction with a brand like Balenciaga. The French company, founded in 1919 by Spanish designer Cristobal Balenciaga, sells things like a women’s slit skirt for $1,350 and a pair of men’s baggy jeans for $1,295. The fashion house also recently linked its brand with Adidas, offering everything from a $4,000 handbag featuring the iconic Adidas stripes to soccer socks that go for $210 pair.
Because of its elite nature, Balenciaga may seem like a brand we can simply ignore. As long as Kim Kardashian (eventually) decided to abandon her Balenciaga wardrobe, that should be enough.
But it isn’t enough.
It doesn’t take a listening tour to understand how dangerous it is to photograph children with sexual props. In a 2002 L.A. Times article titled “The Dangers of Sexualizing Our Children,” author Julie Hudash notes that “the natural lines meant to protect children have become dangerously blurred as children, especially girls, have become burdened by the inappropriate transfer of adult sexuality. The terrifying reality of pedophilia, coupled with societal pressures on children to dress and act suggestively, leads to a volatile mixture.”
The dangers surrounding children and sexual abuse have only become clearer since that article ran 20 years ago. Consider these statistics:
In the United States, about 1 in 9 girls and 1 in 53 boys under the age of 18 are victims of sexual abuse by an adult. Children who experience sexual abuse are more likely to be abused as adults. Throughout the world, a child is sold for sex 20-30 times a day. Social media is being used more frequently by predators to identify, recruit and advertise trafficked children.
Is it too much of a leap to say these photos are akin to child pornography? The children themselves stand innocently in the photos, but the teddy bears they hold put them in danger. Note that the U.S. Justice Department defines child pornography as: “a form of child sexual exploitation. Federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor (persons less than 18 years old). Images of child pornography are also referred to as child sexual abuse images.”
Suddenly, the seemingly innocent idea of little kids holding bondage bears appears much more sinister. Think about this: Someone at Balenciaga had to come up with the idea. The idea was then taken from concept to creation. At every step, a person or team added to the idea until it became reality. Not one person questioned the concept? According to Rolling Stone, the children featured in the photos belonged to employees of Balenciaga, who clearly gave their consent. A photographer posed these children and attached sexualized teddy bears into their little hands and thought that was okay.
No one could have actually thought this was a wonderful idea. They had to have known it was controversial and some certainly thought it was wrong. But nothing was said. Instead, they took a wait-and-see approach, putting the ads out there and hoping for a reaction that mixed shock with acceptance. The concept might show Balenciaga’s edgy side while going just a little out of bounds.
Luckily, that’s not how the campaign was received. It took some time for the backlash to happen, but eventually celebrities and everyday people saw the nastiness of this ad campaign. Our average-Joe voices might not have tipped the scales, but celebrities burning their Balenciaga merchandise certainly made the company take notice. It was then that Balenciaga realized it needed to backtrack, offer apologies and agree to “listen” to what child-protection advocates have to say.
It’s all a little too late. The apology rings hollow. We have to make a big stink about this ad campaign controversy so that no one else thinks it’s okay to take advantage of children for the sake of publicity or to raise a few eyebrows. Many of us can’t punish Balenciaga by refusing to buy their merchandise, but we can let them know how we feel by pointing out and condemning the disgusting ad campaign they almost got away with. Children must be off limits when it comes to sexually charged merchandise.