Balenciaga releases ads with children holding “bondage” teddy bears, then scrubs its social media accounts after backlash.
· Nov 22, 2022 · NottheBee.com

Spanish fashion brand "Balenciaga" has had some controversial products in the past, like when they tried to cash in on the "sagging" look in 2021.

The backlash against those stupid pants cost the company upwards of 23% of their sales. And honestly that was pretty dumb outrage: boycotting over gentrified sag, really?

I mean there are bigger issues out there to get upset about like child pornography for example.

Enter Balenciaga's newest ad campaign: children with "bondage" teddy bears:

I mean that's gross and pretty dumb, but it's not necessarily child pornography right?

But then there's this weird photo of one of Balenciaga's purses sitting on top of a copy of the US Supreme Court opinion in United States v. Williams, the child pornography case where the Supreme Court upheld the "Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to end the Exploitation of Children Today Act," which outlawed the pandering of child pornography.

Clearly the company was trying to make some kind of statement about child pornography, and not in the "we oppose child exploitation" way you would hope.

When the photos started making the rounds on social media calling them out. The company scrubbed every reference to the photos.

Even the photographer who had the photos on his Instagram deleted them from his portfolio.

Was it an ill-conceived, edgy ad gone wrong, or should investigators start digging into these people? I don't know, but I do know child pornography is one of the greatest evils on this planet, not a joke or way to sell purses.

I rarely say it, but cancel culture was a good thing here. Well done social justice warriors.


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