After teddy bear backlash, Balenciaga announces lawsuit for separate ad

BALENCIAGA had apologised just hours earlier for its new holiday campaign featuring children holding bags shaped like teddy bears wearing bondage gear when another controversy erupted last week.

That led the luxury fashion house to issue its second apology in a day after a Supreme Court decision on child pornography laws was spotted in an earlier ad.

A printout of the 2008 United States v Williams decision, which ruled on the constitutionality of a law prohibiting the pandering of child pornography, was photographed among papers scattered across a desk in an ad for a black-and-white bag that retails for over $3 000 (about R50 000).

Now, Balenciaga announced it will take legal action against the production company, North Six, and set designer, Nicholas Des Jardins, for its spring 2023 campaign.

The fashion house alleged that “inexplicable acts and omissions” made without Balenciaga's knowledge were “malevolent or, at the very least, extraordinarily reckless”, according to court documents filed last Friday in the New York State Supreme Court for the County of New York.

The company says it will seek at least $25 million in damages for the resulting “false association” between Balenciaga and the “repulsive and deeply disturbing subject of the court decision”.

Balenciaga did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post. North Six declined to comment on the allegations.

Des Jardins's agent, Gabriela Moussaieff, told The Post that the legal papers used in the ad “were obtained from a prop house that were rental pieces used

on film (and) photo shoots”.

“Everyone from Balenciaga was on the shoot and was present on every shot and worked on the edit of every image in post-production,” Moussaieff said, adding that Des Jardins is “being used as a scapegoat” and is hiring a legal team.

The image, which appeared on Balenciaga's website, was shot in July. It showcased the “Hourglass” handbag, a Balenciaga and adidas mash-up featuring the sporting brand's famous white stripes against black leather and a buckle shaped like a letter “B”.

A printout of the Supreme Court decision spills out of a manilla folder beneath the bag in the advertisement.

The ad became the second to be pulled by Balenciaga last week – a move the company announced in a statement that also apologised “for displaying unsettling documents in our campaign”.

“We strongly condemn abuse of children in any form”, the statement adds. It followed a separate statement in which the company apologised for the way children appeared in its holiday ads.

The fallout began earlier this month when Balenciaga unveiled its “Toy Stories” holiday campaign, shot by National Geographic photographer Gabriele Galimberti. The images in that campaign resemble Galimberti's previous work featuring children surrounded by their toys.

In this case, however, the children were photographed near wine glasses and other trinkets, while holding plush bears with battered eyes that were dressed in fishnet tops and leather harnesses.

While Balenciaga also removed the teddy bear ads, a spokesperson for the fashion house told the Daily Mail that Galimberti's shoot would not be the subject of a lawsuit. In a statement on his Instagram account last week, the award-winning Italian photographer said he had no say in what props or models were used in the shoot.

“I was only and solely requested to [light] the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style,” Galimberti wrote. “The direction of the campaign and choice of objects displayed are not in the hands of the photographer.” |