Balenciaga Drops $25Mln Lawsuit Against Production Firm It Blamed for BDSM Ad Campaign Scandal

Balenciaga previously announced that it was taking legal action against the parties responsible for "creating the set and including unapproved items for our spring 23 campaign photoshoot" amid severe backlash over controversial photos of children holding teddy bears dressed in bondage gear for the Spring 2023 collection.

Balenciaga has backtracked on its $25Mln lawsuit against North Six - the Brooklyn production company that it blamed for the controversial ad campaign that landed the luxury fashion house in hot water.

The iconic brand has been fending off a firestorm of criticism for a Gift Shop collection shoot showing children holding teddy bear purses dressed in bondage gear. Furthermore, its Spring 2023 campaign featured as a prop an image of a 2008 Supreme Court ruling in a child pornography case.

In late November, amid scorching backlash from celebrities such as Yolanda Hadid and Kim Kardashian - with the latter "re-evaluating" her relationship with the brand - Balenciaga headed to court. It filed a notice with the Supreme Court of the State of New York on 25 November, against North Six, Inc and its agent, set designer Nicholas Des Jardins, to “seek redress for extensive damages [they] caused in connection with an advertising campaign Balenciaga hired them to produce.”

However, now, instead of pursuing litigation, the label has adopted full damage control mode, opting to launch a series of actions seeking to “learn from its mistakes”, Balenciaga's chief executive Cedric Charbit said in the statement, published on social media.

It was clarified that the company would set up an internal “image board” responsible for evaluating the nature of its contents from “concepts to final assets, including legal, sustainability and diversity expertise".

Twitter screenshot of statement by Balenciaga CEO Cédric Charbit on December 2, 2022.

© Photo : Twitter

Furthermore, an external “best-in-class agency” would be entrusted with assessing and evaluating its content. Its image department, added the statement, underwent a reorganization to guarantee “full alignment with corporate guidelines”.

A fund is now to oversee grant donations to organizations that can “help make a difference in protecting children”, Charbit revealed on Friday.

Balenciaga’s creative designer, Demna Gvasalia, has since personally apologized for making the “wrong artistic choice” after Kim Kardashian expressed on social media just how “disgusted and outraged” she was by the campaign.

“It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them… much as I would sometimes like to provoke a thought through my work, I would NEVER have an intention to do that with such an awful subject as child abuse that I condemn. Period,” underscored the Georgian fashion designer.

After Balenciaga announced it was dropping litigation, Twitter users continued to slam the fashion house amid continued calls for a boycott.

Twitter screenshot about Balenciaga statement on dropping litigation over ad campaign.

© Photo : Twitter

Twitter screenshot about Balenciaga statement on dropping litigation over ad campaign.

© Photo : Twitter