Why do consumers still prefer to shop online?

#CancelBalenciaga

Over the past week, the scandals of Balenciaga’s recent campaigns has inundated various social media platforms including twitter, instagram and tiktok. The latest holiday campaign featured young children holding teddy bears in BDSM accessories and costumes , which was also worn by runway models at the Balenciaga's show at Paris fashion week. This has caused outrage by the general public as many of us are questioning Balenciaga's ethics over these images. The new hashtag #cancelbalenciaga is trending across social media sites as Balenciaga's team are currently being accused of condoning child exploitation and pedophilia, which is clearly not right and shocking for such a well known brand. A second advertising campaign from Balenciaga from their summer collection contains documents from the supreme court case, United States vs William, including federal protections against child pornography. Both of these campaigns have caused serious controversy and many of Balenciaga’s consumers are questioning if this is a mistake or has Balenciaga intentionally used these images to cause controversy and raise their profile, even more through these extreme images resulting in online discussions and trending hashtags. 

(This Image sourced from Twitter, this image reveals how unhappy the general public  is with the latest campaigns)

How will this affect Balenciaga in the future?

Many of us are questioning if Balenciaga’s campaign had a particular motive for a darker and deeper meaning or if this was a huge publicity stunt as it has led to many articles being published and the brand Balenciaga being spoken about on various social media platforms. As P.T.Barnum once said “there's no such thing as bad publicity”, yet is this too far when children are being involved and sexualised just for some free advertising? Since the controversial teddy bear campaign became public knowledge, a Balenciaga store in central London has been physically labeled  with ‘peadophille’ stickers. This demonstrates that many people believe this was not an accident and clearly such a well known company like Balenciaga would not let a campaign like this destroy their image and luxury brand. Therefore, many of the public hold the organisation accountable for their actions and wish to draw attention to such disturbing images and are calling for a prosecution. 

In 2019, high street brand Zara faced accusations of child exploitation after being accused of dressing a child model in adult clothing while seated on a bed in reach of the ocean. Now while this did cause concerns amongst the internet and articles, shoppers did not steer away from the brand. This however has yet to unfold fully for Balenciaga, the future of the brand and its customers is still questionable and will remain a concern for many customers into 2023. 

But let me propose this question to my readers, would you feel comfortable wearing the items of clothing and accessories Balenciaga are promoting in a room full of young children?

References:

Danya .I. (2022) What to know about the Balenciaga ad scandal. Available at:

https://www.thecut.com/2022/12/what-to-know-about-the-balenciaga-ad-scandal.html

(Accessed: 6 December 2022).

Layota .G. (2019) Zara is blasted over suggestive’ and ‘inappropriate’ kidswear advert featuring a child model Available at: 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6848039/Zara-REMOVES-photos-new-childrens-campaign-Instagram.html

(Accessed: 6 December 2022).