Major department stores silence over Balenciaga's BDSM campaign

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Major department stores silence over Balenciaga's BDSM campaign

Major department stores and online retailers have remained silent over the controversy surrounding a Balenciaga advertising campaign featuring children holding teddy bear purses dressed in BDSM attire.

Bergdorf Goodman and parent company Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale s and Net-A- Porter have not spoken out about the issue, despite the fact that they do not respond to questions from Fox News Digital about the campaign, which depicted children with teddy bears in bondage-style attire and included Supreme Court documents about child pornography.

None of the retailers responded to questions about whether or not they plan to cut dies with Balenciaga over the ad, or if they support minors in ads with bondage-style clothing.

The first of the controversial ads, Balenciaga's Gift Shop campaign, was published earlier this month, and showed kids holding handbags made from teddy bears in fishnet tops and leather harnesses. Around the children, wine glasses, chains and sunglasses were also displayed.

The social media backlash against the brand prompted critics to scour other Balenciaga ads and found that the 2023 Garde Robe campaign, which featured celebrities like Nicole Kidman and Bella Hadid, included paperwork from a 2008 Supreme Court case about child pornography.

After a social media firestorm, where critics accused the brand of sexualizing children and normalizing child pornography, Balenciaga issued an apology on social media and deleted all other posts.

It was never our intent to include it in our narrative, and we strongly condemn child abuse, according to the statement. The two separate ads campaigns in question reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility. Balenciaga also stated that bear-shaped purses should not have been featured with children and that the brand strongly condemns the abuse of children. Retailers aren't the only ones who have remained silent on the issue of CLOTHING BRANDS' MARKETING PLOY. Kering, the parent company of Balenciaga, and other major fashion brands, have not spoken out. Kering, who posted on Twitter several times a day before the controversy arose, has not tweeted since November 20.

Kim Kardashian, who has been the face of Balenciaga, said she was shaken by the disturbing images and appreciated the brand's apology. She said she is reevaluating her relationship with the brand.

I have been quiet for the past few days, not because I haven't been disgusted and outraged by the recent Balenciaga campaigns, but because I wanted to speak to their team to understand how this could have happened, Kardashian said.