Fashion company Balenciaga has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the producers of a pedophilic ad campaign that included BDSM teddy bears, a child pornography court ruling, and books from an author whose works depict nude children and occult rituals.
The Balenciaga ad is disgusting. Toddlers posing with BDSM sex toys and alcohol. Hiding in plain sight a Supreme Court case involving a federal child porn law… Stop sexualizing kids to sell your ugly overpriced crap. #Balenciaga pic.twitter.com/hTNJ4TD6od
— Alison H.Centofante (@AlisonHowardC) November 21, 2022
The fashion house – (which we assume had to have at least signed off on the ‘BDSM bear’ imagery) – is suing production company North Six, Inc. and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins over the inclusion of documents from a US Supreme Court decision on child porn laws, the NY Post reports.
Balenciaga is bringing the case “to seek redress for extensive damages defendants caused in connection with an advertising campaign Balenciaga hired them to produce,” the Manhattan Supreme Court summons alleges.
Balenciaga claims North Six and Des Jardins included the images of the court docs without its knowledge – which was “malevolent or, at the very least, extraordinarily reckless,” the filing states. -NY Post
“As a result of Defendants’ misconduct, members of the public, including the news media, have falsely and horrifically associated Balenciaga with the repulsive and deeply disturbing subject of the court decision,” reads the lawsuit. “Defendants are liable to Balenciaga for all harm resulting from this false association.“
So – the BDSM teddy bear photos (plural) that Balenciaga obviously signed off on, meh. But the inclusion of a Supreme Court ruling Easter egg which essentially says that distributing child porn is legal as long as it’s not obscene, damaged the company’s brand? Sure.
Tucker Carlson Asking WTF Is Going On With Disturbing Balenciaga Ad Involving Children pic.twitter.com/ue1GGhkTM7
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) November 22, 2022
The ad campaign also featured books by Michael Borremans, an artist whose themes include nude children and occult rituals.
Type in search engine, “Michael Borremans”
⚠️TW⚠️ 𝗜𝗧𝗦 𝗕𝗔𝗗!!!!! pic.twitter.com/3JVn56rCfE— NΛTLY DΞNISΞ (@itsnatlydenise) November 23, 2022
#Balenciaga had this Michael Borremans book laying out in the office desk to the side of red-head model… look at these themes yall… can’t make this up even if I tried!!! pic.twitter.com/GaFACxtviJ
— NΛTLY DΞNISΞ (@itsnatlydenise) November 23, 2022
More from the photo shoot set:
𝗠𝗢𝗔𝗥!!!!!!!!! The bottom book is “The Cremaster Cycle” by Matthew Barney #Balenciaga pic.twitter.com/4dzuqj7T5C
— NΛTLY DΞNISΞ (@itsnatlydenise) November 23, 2022
The company issued an apology, and announced that the bear ads had been pulled.
“We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms,” the company said in a statement on Instagram, along with an apology for “displaying unsettling documents in our campaign.”
Photographer Gabriele Galimberti said in an Instagram post that had no control over the “direction of the campaign and the choice of the objects displayed.”
“Following the hundreds of hate mails and messages I received as a result of the photos I took for the Balenciaga campaign, I feel compelled to make this statement.
I am not in a position to comment Balenciaga’s choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same.
As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style.
As usual for a commercial shooting, the direction of the campaign and the choice of the objects displayed are not in the hands of the photographer.I suspect that any person prone to pedophilia searches on the web and has unfortunately a too easy access to images completely different than mine, absolutely explicit in their awful content. Accusations like these are addressed against wrong targets, and distract from the real problem, and criminals.
Also, I have no connection with the photo where a Supreme Court document appears. That one was taken in another set by other people and and was falsely associated with my photos.
Gabriele Galimberti”
Balenciaga severed their ties with @kanyewest due to a tweet.
Yet they expect us to just “accept their apology” after they get caught up sexualizing children?
They’re not apologizing because they’re sorry. They’re apologizing because they got caught.
— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) November 22, 2022
Tyler Durden
Sat, 11/26/2022 – 13:00
