Balenciaga creative director Demna apologises over ad campaign – latest

Cédric Charbit, Balenciaga’s president and CEO, apologised for the “offense” that the brand’s controversial ad campaigns caused in a new Instagram statement.

“I want to personally reiterate my sincere apologies for the offense caused and take my responsibility,” he wrote.

“At Balenciaga, we stand together for children safety and do not tolerate any kind of violence and hatred message.”

Balenciaga issued a new statement about the backlash on 2 December.

The latest statement describes actions Balenciaga will be taking “to learn from our mistakes as an organisation.”

These actions include “new control instances,” such as nominating an image board responsible for evaluating the nature of its content, reorganising the brand’s image department, and dropping its $25m lawsuit against production company North Six.

Balenciaga said it has also “set aside a significant fund for grants to organisations so that we can help make a difference in protecting children”.

This is the brand’s third statement since sparking backlash over two recent ad campaigns involving children.

“The fact that today I have the fashion elite say hello to me, they come to my shows, they consider me finally, it’s somehow a victory, probably,” he said.

On 2 December, the designer issued a statement about the two controversial Balenciaga ads, in which child models posed with teddy bears dressed in bondage gear and a Supreme Court document on child pornography was visible.

“I want to personally apologise for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with kids and I take my responsibility,” he wrote on Instagram. “It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.”

Joe Bloggs, known by his artist name as The Average Man, placed a vinyl sticker with the words “paedophilia” on the store’s glass display window at its New Bond street location in central London.

The words appeared three times in black below two back-to-back facing letter “Ps”.

Bloggs explained that the graffiti was in response to Balenciaga’s recent campaign controversy, in which the luxury fashion house published two ads involving children.

A TikToker captured Bloggs defacing the Balenciaga store window in a video captioned: “POV: you’re walking through Central London enjoying the lights and see Balenciaga getting cancelled”.

In a comment piece, The Independent’s Olivia Petter asks if the fashion industry will ever learn from this controversy.

“Beyond the obvious criticism, there’s something deeper at play here that helps raise further questions around accountability and what actually drives consumer spending.”

“Because, fundamentally, that’s the intention of these campaigns: to sell us things. Once you take away all of the noise and criticism, major brands almost always succeed in continuing to sell their products, backlash be damned.”

“If the fashion industry keeps neglecting to learn from their mistakes, at what point do they stop being mistakes entirely?”

Prior to Demna’s apology, photographer Gabriele Galimberti addressed backlash to the Balenciaga holiday ad campaign in a statement.

The National Geographic photographer said he felt “compelled to make” the statement following the “hundreds of hate mails and messages I received as a result of the photos I took for the Balenciaga campaign”.

“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,” he wrote on Instagram. “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.”

Galimberti also clarified he has “no connection with the photo where a Supreme Court document appears.”

The Independent’s Chelsea Ritschel has more:

Balenciaga creative director Demna’s apology Instagram post featured a promise to “learn from this”.

He condemned child abuse and said that he plans to learn more about organisations that are centred on protecting children.

“As much as I would sometimes like to provoke a thought through my work, I would NEVER have an intention to do that with such an awful subject as child abuse that I condemn,” he continued. “I need to learn from this, listen and engage with child protection organisations to know how I can contribute and help on this terrible subject.”

He concluded his apology by sharing what Balenciaga’s next steps would be, following the scandal.

“I apologise to anyone offended by the visuals and Balenciaga has guaranteed that adequate measures will be taken not only to avoid similar mistakes in the future but also to take accountability in protecting child welfare in every way we can,” he concluded.

The Independent’s Amber Raiken has more:

Balenciaga creative director Demna’s recent Instagram post in which he apologised for making “the wrong artistic choice” has been received poorly on social media.

After apologising to “anyone offended by the visuals”, the 41-year-old designer said the brand had “guaranteed that adequate measures will be taken not only to avoid similar mistakes in the future but also to take accountability in protecting child welfare in every way we can”.

On Twitter, he has been attacked for his choice of language – “empty” – and for the impact of his artistic decision upon the luxury fashion brand.

“How do they come back from this?,” wrote one user. “The creative vision lies with him. When Galliano had to leave Dior for an antisemitic rant, the brand carried on. Will this do Balenciaga long-term harm? There is no doubt Demna has altered the fashion scene, but I’m not convinced he will survive.”

Social media is starting to respond to Balenciaga creative director Demna’s recent statement (see previous post) in which he apologised for making the “wrong artistic choice”.

In a post shared to Instagram, he wrote: “I want to personally apologise for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with the kids and I take my responsibility (sic). It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.”

Despite calls for his resignation, the statement has been widely interpreted as a sign that the luxury brand has decided to keep the designer in post.

Responses on social media to the statement have largely been negative so far.

“This is pure corporate communication and empty language elements,” wrote one user on Twitter. “It’s far from being at the level of what’s at stake.”

Another wrote: “What took so long, Demna? I want him out because he’s messing with one of my favourite brands’ legacy”.

The creative director of Balenciaga Demna has posted a personal apology to his Instagram page.

It reads: “I want to personally apologise for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with the kids and I take my responsibility (sic). It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.

“As much as I would sometimes like to provoke a thought through my work (sic), I would NEVER have an intention to do that with such an awful subject as child abuse which I condemn. Period.

“I need to learn from this, listen and engage with child protection organisations to know how I can contribute and help on this terrible subject.

“I apologise to anyone offended by the visuals and Balenciaga has guaranteed that adequate measures will be taken not only to avoid similar mistakes in the future but also to take accountability in protecting child welfare in every way we can.”