Parents erupted in outrage over fashion brand Balenciaga using young children to advertise what one critic dubbed “bondage” teddy bear purses.
The high-end brand is known for its outrageous fashion and is often worn by celebrities like Kim Kardashian, model Bella Hadid, and actress Nicole Kidman.
“Has anyone else seen this? It’s on the main page of their website and is wildly inappropriate,” one person posted online to Mumsnet. “A little girl as in [aged] 5-7 … is on a bed holding a Teddy bear dressed in bondage and fetish gear. She also doesn’t look particularly happy. I don’t understand how a whole team of people presumably thought this was ok! It’s gross.”
The Daily Wire was able to confirm the following photos were on Balenciaga’s website as of Monday morning:
Balenciaga
Balenciaga
“Bloody typical of Balenciaga,” another person reacted to the photos. “They shock to get attention for their overpriced rubbish. It’s like a social experiment on how ridiculous their products are but yet people buy the rubbish.”
“This though is disgusting and verging on depraved. What possessed the parents of this child to think this is any sort of normal I cannot fathom.”
“I agree it’s horrid but judging by what I see shared on Twitter with children watching drag queens sing explicit songs and twerk with their junk bulging out, there seems to be a direction (?) towards the normalisation of sexualising children in society in general,” a reply read. “Especially with some wanting to call [pedophiles] ‘minor attracted people’ 🤮😣 It’s sick and sinister and I feel like I’m seeing it more.”
One commenter called the teddy bear purse “punk,” and said it was not “bondage gear.” The person added, “But I can see why people might think so. Still a stupid ad.”
The purses were worn during an October fashion show, Reduxx highlighted.
Credit: LA RAZ
Credit: LA RAZ
Reports online went even further. June Nicole Lapine, a political YouTuber with more than half a million followers dubbed ShoeOnHead, posted alleged additional photos from Balenciaga.
“The brand ‘Balenciaga’ just did a uh….. interesting… photoshoot for their new products recently which included a very purposely poorly hidden court document about ‘virtual child porn,'” she captioned the four photos. “Normal stuff.”
The Daily Wire was unable to confirm details about the documents allegedly on the site.
the brand "Balenciaga" just did a uh….. interesting… photoshoot for their new products recently which included a very purposely poorly hidden court document about 'virtual child porn'
normal stuff pic.twitter.com/zjMN5WhZ0s
— shoe (@shoe0nhead) November 21, 2022
Notably, Balenciaga has wiped its Instagram account. Currently, there are only nine posts on the account, and the oldest one is a mere four hours old featuring actress Nicole Kidman:
View this post on Instagram