Balenciaga issued an apology on Monday for a recent advertising campaign featuring children that was accused of being inappropriate, Newsweek reports.
"We would like to address the controversies surrounding our recent ad campaigns," the fashion company said in an Instagram story.
"We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in our narrative," it continues.
"The two separate ad campaigns in question reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility. The first campaign, the gift collection campaign, featured children with plush bear bags dressed in what some have labelled BDSM-inspired outfits. Our plush bear bags and the gift collection should not have been featured with children. This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images. The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone."
The statement adds that one photo featured a document from a Supreme Court ruling that mentions child pornography, this was a prop from a third-party used as set decoration for the business office setting of the photo and the company notes that "the inclusion of these unapproved documents was the result of reckless negligence for which Balenciaga has filed a complaint. We take full accountability for our lack of oversight and control of the documents in the background and we could have done things differently."
Newsweek contacted the company for comment but did not receive a response from Balenciaga before publication.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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