Balenciaga issues another apology letter amid backlash: 'Internal & external investigations are ongoing'

On Monday, luxury fashion brand Balenciaga issued another apology letter for itscontroversial ad campaign that featured young kids holding BDSM-themed teddy bears covered with bondages. After removing all of its Instagram posts, the Kering-owned fashion house took to social media to, once again, release its mea culpa and address the growing backlash.

In its previous apology, the brand claimed that "inexplicable acts" made without its knowledge were "malevolent" and "extraordinarily reckless". Now, in a new apology letter, the French fashion house has taken full responsibility for its lack of oversight in the controversial ad campaign.

The brand began by saying, "We would like to address the controversies surrounding our recent ad campaigns. We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in our narrative. The two separate ad campaigns in question reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility."

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Speaking about the Gift Collection campaign that featured children holding plush bears dressed in "BDSM-inspired outfits", the brand accepted that they made a "wrong choice" and that they failed in assessing and validating the controversial images, for which the "responsibility lies with Balenciaga alone".

Balenciaga then addressed its controversial 2023 Spring campaign and apologised for its negligence. "The second, separate campaign for spring 2023, which was meant to replicate a business office environment, included a photo from a page in the background from a Supreme Court ruling 'United States v. Williams' 2008 which confirms as illegal and not protected by freedom of speech the promotion of child pornography," Balenciaga elaborated. "All the items included in this shooting were provided by third parties that confirmed in writing that these props were fake office documents. They turned out to be real legal papers most likely coming from the filming of a television drama."

"The inclusion of these unapproved documents was the result of reckless negligence for which Balenciaga has filed a complaint. We take full accountability for our lack of oversight and control of the documents in the background and we could have done things differently," the statement further read.

Talking about the actions the brand is taking to correct its mistakes, Balenciaga stated, "While internal and external investigations are ongoing, we are taking the following actions: We are closely revising our organization and collective ways of working. We are reinforcing the structures around our creative processes and validation steps. We want to ensure that new controls mark a pivot and will prevent this from happening again. We are laying the groundwork with organisations who specialise in child protection and aim at ending child abuse and exploitation."

"We want to learn from our mistakes and identify ways we can contribute. Balenciaga reiterates its sincere apologies for the offence we have caused and extends its apologies to talents and partners," the statement concluded.

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