Balenciaga apologises for bondage bear advert involving child

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They're also taking legal action against its creator

What I want to know is who the hell signed it off and why were the parents happy to let it go ahead?

I've included the images for anyone who hasn't seen them.

Why are they suing their content creator? Their CMO would have signed off on it. That's their job.

And over in NZ, not even Father Christmas is spared:

twitter.com/standingforxx/status/1595350983927861250?s=46&t=_7cSYBiZLXt81w00-XxPlg

I agree, and the apology has given then extra value for money being a featured story in places they would not have got coverage.
It was a cynical ploy to use sexualsing a few child models for money, like they were disposable.

Bullshit they are bringing charges against 'the creative' - for what? Fulfilling their brief to a high enough standard that the brand decided to sign off the pictures and put them into the world?

As I understand it, for hiding the document about child abuse on the table. The document removed all plausible deniability. Presumably if that hadn’t been there, they would not have taken the campaign down; they would have accused anyone who objected to it of being prudish, and revelled in how edgy they are.

As I understand it, for hiding the document about child abuse on the table

But it was their job to check that. If the internet 'found' it, why was it beyond the skills of the marketing team employed for the purpose?

Just seen the Father Christmas.

There really is no end to this is there?

There are leads and wine glasses on the tables in front of the little girls.

The photographer did a project with children with all their toys laid out around them and he's used the same style for this shoot: www.thisiscolossal.com/2018/06/toy-stories-gabriele-galimberti/
(I find these photos disturbing - you may not)

Not sure if it's been mentioned here already, but by far the most disturbing one for me was the one with the child on the sofa with empty wine glasses on the table utterly vile. I cannot understand how anyone at Balenciaga can pretend they didn't know what they were doing with these photographs

He also tweeted this. He's since deleted his Twitter account as has Balenciaga and they've pretty much deleted everything on their Instagram

The Balenciaga campaign then seems a deliberate subversion or perversion of the style of those photos, with toys replaced by leads, wine glasses, bondage teddies etc. It is not edgy, it's just wrong.

I mean, a more obvious idea would be to stage the photos with adults, as if to imply the Balenciaga shite is grown-up toys - that would be creepy enough. But to use children??!!

The pictures are freely available on the internet.
Disgusting- but no worse than those LoL dolls- also bloody vile.

It obviously is worse. These are actual children.

Maybe someone has said why I may have missed it but why isn’t it a criminal matter?

But it was their job to check that. If the internet 'found' it, why was it beyond the skills of the marketing team employed for the purpose?

It was quite well hidden and they weren’t expecting it. I’m sure most of them didn’t think they were enabling an actual pedophile to display his fetish in public, they just thought it was edgy. (Some of them possibly did know.)

People on the Internet are smart enough to know that actual pedophiles are behind this kind of boundary pushing behaviour more often than not. And this kind of “look at me I’m so clever” in plain sight gloating seems to be pretty common among pedophiles who are getting away with it. I doubt the photographer expected anyone to check the zoomed in documents either.

What exactly is that document?

This is all so sick. And I doubt there will be any long term repercussions to the brand or people involved.

It was quite well hidden and they weren’t expecting it. I’m sure most of them didn’t think they were enabling an actual pedophile to display his fetish in public, they just thought it was edgy. (Some of them possibly did know.)

It's not like it was featured in some relatively innocuous content though. There were warning bells all over the place. And even aside from that, nothing should go out without every detail checked. That's how most companies operate.

They can't claim ignorance on this one. I expect the stuff about suing is just posturing. Safe to say they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

Thanks. I'm not great with the blurring out faces etcon this old laptop.

If people really want to see the pics I guess they can Google them as there are lots still out there.

This is the doc. It's a ruling on images of child sexual abuse. In a photoshoot of a handbag.

There is another image of a little boy standing behind rolls of duct tape, chains and a ski mask along with a beer can with a candle on the top.

I am really sickened by all the people involved in this campaign

The photographer should of course have his equipment confiscated and investigated.

Balenciaga - well, the whole brand just sounds sleazy, gross, and tacky in the very best-case scenario.

So the photographer spent 2 years travelling around the world visiting strange children in developing countries. Well, that's not going to raise any red flags now, is it?

It's not like it was featured in some relatively innocuous content though. There were warning bells all over the place.

That’s my point, though. These people have already been groomed/brainwashed to the point that they didn’t understand the problem with this photoshoot. Now they see this document in it and they come over all surprised.

It’s like drag queen story time or any other example of boundaries being pushed around the sexualisation of children; the useful idiot brigade get all surprised and confused whenever actual pedophiles turn out to be involved.

That is very deliberately placed, isn't it?

That’s my point, though. These people have already been groomed/brainwashed to the point that they didn’t understand the problem with this photoshoot.

Well agreed, but that entirely on them. What failure of company culture led to this?

Yes. People really don't appreciate how prevalent paedophilia is.

I think it's pretty much guaranteed that if you think something is dodgy in terms of children, it probably is.

Once you start to look at it through that lens, things become so obvious, you're just amazed at other people's naivety. A naivety, which, of course, child sex offenders, utterly rely upon.