Balenciaga’s creative director apologizes for ‘wrong artistic choice of concept’ in BDSM teddy bear ads

The creative director for Balenciaga apologized for what he called the “wrong artistic choice of concept” as fallout continues over the Spanish fashion house’s ill-fated advertising campaign that featured young girls with BDSM-themed teddy bear handbags that has at least temporarily tarnished the exclusive brand.

“I want to personally apologize for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with the kids and I take responsibility, “Demna Gvasalia said in a Friday Instagram post. “It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.”

“It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them,” he added. “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. Period.”

The company has been in full damage control mode over the holiday ad campaign that led to it being accused of sexualizing children, a deplorable trend in leftist-dominated culture and society that has become pervasive in recent years.

In the images that were shot by Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti, the young girls were featured holding the company’s plush teddy bear handbags which were dressed in fishnet and leather garb along with locks and chains, with one of the children posing atop a bed, drawing immediate criticism that the ads were exploitative and sexualized kids.

(Image: Screengrab)

Also included in the offensive pics was an excerpt from a 2008 Supreme Court ruling upholding a part of a federal child pornography law that criminalized child abuse images, a bizarre inclusion that makes it difficult to dispute that the kinky theme was unintentional.

In another peculiar development, it has been reported that the CEO of Balenciaga’s parent company François-Henri Pinault – who is married to actress Salma Hayek – is the founder of a French holding company that owns Christie’s, a British auction house that coincidentally has a history of selling perverted artworks that sexualize children.

Among the works created by British brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman and sold by Christie’s is “a sculpture called ‘F–k Face,’ which depicts a male toddler with an erect penis for a nose and what appears to be a vagina for a mouth. Another sculpture, titled ‘Zygotic Acceleration,’ shows a group of naked pubescent girls, some of whom have erect penises for noses, arranged in bizarre, quasi-sexual positions,” according to a report by conservative website Breitbart.

The work is repugnant to the extreme with some examples to be seen HERE but be forewarned that they are graphic and not for the squeamish.

“I need to learn from this, listen and engage with child protection organizations to know how I can contribute and help on this terrible subject,” Gvasalia said in his Instagram post.

He added, “I apologize to anyone offended by the visuals and Balenciaga has guaranteed that adequate measures will be taken not only to avoid similar mistakes in the future but also to take accountability in protecting child welfare in every way we can.”

“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,” Balenciaga wrote in its own apology on Instagram last week as the firestorm engulfed the company.

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Chris Donaldson

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