Dhe Christmas season started with an advertising scandal at Balenciaga – and the fashion brand, which belongs to the French luxury group Kering, now wants to be compensated for it. A corresponding lawsuit was filed with the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan last Friday.
In it, Balenciaga accuses North Six Inc., the production company she hires, and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins of using documents related to a case of child pornography in photos in the advertising campaign without permission.
Papers from the US Supreme Court from 2008 were on display, confirming the constitutionality of the “Protect Act”. The law increases penalties for sexual exploitation and other abuse of children. The promotional images also showed children with teddy bears wearing leather fetish clothing and harness.
The production company is now said to have paid at least $25 million for the fact that the media and the public “wrongly and horribly associated Balenciaga with the repulsive and deeply disturbing topic” through its advertising footage, according to the Bloomberg news service, citing the court documents.
Since such campaigns are never published without the consent of the client, Balenciaga was once again remorseful on Monday. A statement also said Balenciaga “takes full responsibility for our lack of oversight and background document control” and that “things could have been done differently.”
Even loyal fans of the designer Demna, known for his provocative designs, were shocked after the campaign. Kim Kardashian, who appeared at last year’s Met Gala in a full-length Balenciaga costume with fetish details, wrote on her social media channels that she was reconsidering her relationship with the brand. “Any attempt to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society,” the reality star said.
