‘Outnumbered’ on outrage over Balenciaga’s controversial ad
The panel discussed the widespread outrage after the company released an ad featuring children with teddy bears in bondage.
Actress Salma Hayek and husband François-Henri Pinault have remained silent on the uproar over luxury fashion brand Balenciaga’s controversial ad campaigns despite Pinault’s position as CEO of the brand’s parent company.
Shocking photos from one of the Balenciaga campaigns showed children alongside stuffed animals wearing leather harnesses. In a seperate ad, the brand also used an image of a Supreme Court opinion in a child pornography case as a prop promoting a handbag. Balenciaga pulled the ads last week, apologized for what it called “grievous errors” and stated they would be pursuing legal action against the individuals who placed the text in the image.
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Salma Hayek wed French billionaire Francois Henri-Pinault in 2009. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)
Pinault serves as CEO of Kering, Balenciaga’s parent company. He and Hayek have attended Balenciaga fashion shows and Hayek has promoted the brand’s fashion on her social media pages. However, the pair have so far remained mum on the ensuing outrage caused by the campaigns.
Neither Hayek nor Pinault responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by the time of publication.
Other famous faces who have starred in Balenciaga campaigns, such as Bella Hadid and Nicole Kidman, have similarly remained silent on the scandal.
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Kim Kardashian, who is considered the brand’s biggest ambassador, was one of a few notable figures to release a statement signaling her disgust with the campaigns. She announced that while she appreciates Balenciaga’s decision to pull the ads and their apology, she’s “reevaluating” her relationship with the brand.
“As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images,” Kardashian said. “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.”
Kim Kardashian expressed that she was “digusted” with the Balenciaga ad and was “reevaluating” her relationship with the fashion house. (Phillip Faraone)
Kardashian starred in Balenciaga’s Fall/Winter 2022 campaign.
“To try to be a voice for our children, who rely on the protection of the men and women that were entrusted the responsibility of nurturing them and raising them up: please make yourself aware of the attack against our young ones by @balenciaga, and ensure that they are held responsible for it,” Los Angeles Rams star Cooper Kupp similarly said.
Bella Hadid walks the runway during the Michael Kors FW20 Runway Show on Feb. 12, 2020, in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Michael Kors)
Conservative activists have blasted the campaigns as “exploitive propaganda.”
“This is not about them being provocative and getting attention,” Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America, recently told Fox News Digital. “The entire campaign sexualizes children, period. It is child exploitation, period. And it feeds and normalizes a culture that is dark and depraved.”
Fans of the celebrities still aligned with Balenciaga have urged them to immediately cut all ties.
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Fox News’ Tracy Wright and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.
