Kim Kardashian is “re-evaluating” her relationship with Balenciaga, the reality star said Sunday night, after the luxury fashion brand was widely criticized for a campaign featuring children posing with teddy bears in what appeared to be bondage gear.
“As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images,”
she said on Twitter. “The safety of children must be held with the highest
regard and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no
place in our society — period.”
Last week, photos surfaced of a Balenciaga campaign that showed
children holding teddy bears in leather gear resembling that used in BDSM,
an abbreviation for bondage, discipline, dominance, submission and
sadomasochism. One photo showed a child holding a bear that was dressed in
wrist and ankle restraints with a lock and chain around its neck.
Kardashian
said she had waited to speak out “not because I haven’t been disgusted and
outraged by the recent Balenciaga campaigns, but because I wanted an
opportunity to speak to their team to understand for myself how this could
have happened.”
“I appreciate Balenciaga’s removal of the campaigns and
apology. In speaking with them, I believe they understand the seriousness of
the issue and will take the necessary measures for this to never happen
again,” she said.
Amid the criticism, Balenciaga said in a post
to its Instagram story last week that “we sincerely apologize for any
offense our holiday campaign may have caused.”
“Our plush bear
bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign,” it
said.
As of Sunday evening, Balenciaga’s Instagram posts had been
hidden or deleted. (The comment sections of Instagram posts are often
commandeered as a public forum for expressing criticism of brands or public
figures.)
Kardashian, who has worked as an ambassador for Balenciaga,
said she was “currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand, basing
it off their willingness to accept accountability for something that should
have never happened to begin with — & the actions I am expecting to see
them take to protect children.”
Balenciaga and its parent
company, Kering, did not immediately respond to requests for comment
regarding Kardashian’s statements.
