Kim Kardashian breaks her silence on Balenciaga campaign involving children and BDSM teddies
Topics: Kim Kardashian
Stewart Perrie
Featured Image Credit: Hulu. Balenciaga
Topics: Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian has broken her silence on the controversy surrounding Balenciaga's latest campaign.
The fashion brand attracted headlines for all the wrong reasons recently after it unveiled adverts showing children holding a range of teddy bears.
While that sounds fairly innocent enough, the teddies were bizarrely dressed in BDSM outfits.
Fans called on Kim to make a statement about the furore considering she has a relationship with the brand.
Advert
Now, she has finally spoken out.
As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images. The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society — period.
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) November 27, 2022
"I have been quiet for the past few days, not because I haven’t been disgusted and outraged by the recent Balenciaga campaigns, but because I wanted an opportunity to speak to their team to understand for myself how this could have happened," she wrote on Twitter.
"As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images.
"The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society — period.
"I appreciate Balenciaga’s removal of the campaigns and apology.
"In speaking with them, I believe they understand the seriousness of the issue and will take the necessary measures for this to never happen again.
"As for my future with Balenciaga, I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand, basing it off their willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened to begin with — & the actions I am expecting to see them take to protect children."
In its original press release for the advert last week, Balenciaga said the campaign 'iterates on the artist's series Toy Stories, an exploration of what people collect and receive as gifts'.
The company apologised in the wake of the controversy and agrees the campaign should have never gone to print.
"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."
In its statement, Balenciaga added that it would be 'taking legal action against the creator of the controversial ad campaign.
The campaign was shot by National Geographic photographer Gabriele Galimberti, but he has said the direction and the shooting of the now infamous campaign was out of his hands.
In a statement to CNN, the photographer said: "I am not in a position to comment [on] Balenciaga's choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose (sic) the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same.
"As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit (sic) the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style.
"As usual, the direction of the campaign and of the shooting are not on the hands of the photographer."
UNILAD has reached out to Balenciaga for further comment.