Balenciaga’s latest ad campaign – which drew a lot of criticism on social media – is making Kim Kardashian evaluate her relationship with the brand.
The luxury fashion house featured children cuddling teddy bears dressed in bondage gear in the advertising campaign.
Kardashian, who has had a close working relationship with the fashion house for years and is currently a brand ambassador, on Sunday tweeted that she was “shaken by the disturbing images.”
The Skims founder and reality TV star broke her silence Sunday after receiving a barrage of messages from fans and commentators urging her to denounce the brand.
In comments posted to her social media, Kardashian said she had waited to speak out “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.”
“As for my future with Balenciaga, I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand,” she wrote, “basing it off their willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened to begin with — and the actions I am expecting to see them take to protect children.”
“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,” she told her 74.2 million Twitter followers on Sunday.
“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.”
Balenciaga’s troubles began early last week, after its holiday ad campaign was criticized for what many took to be implied sexual content. Shortly after, Balenciaga pulled the campaign and posted a statement to the company’s Instagram profile addressing the ad’s creation.
“We sincerely apologize for any offence our holiday campaign may have caused,” read the statement. “Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.”
