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Balenciaga’s Hypocrisy: Relentless on Kanye West, Now Apologizes for Disgusting Campaign with Children

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Balenciaga, the luxury fashion brand that ruthlessly severed ties with Kanye West over his politically incorrect comments, is now apologizing and claiming absolution for an ad campaign featuring children full of repulsive pedophilic overtones.

At the end of October, Balenciaga joined the campaign of harassment and demolition against Kanye West by announcing that it was unilaterally severing its commercial ties with the artist. Balenciaga then used the relentless tool of cancellation. Now, barely a month later, is begging not to be canceled after social media exposed the upsetting and disturbing pedophilic connotations of its latest ad campaign.

In the photographs with which Balenciaga promoted its Spring 23 Collection, all kinds of pedophile references could be seen; some very obvious and others hidden in a sibylline way.

Among those that jumped out were children with haggard expressions photographed with stuffed panda bears dressed in sadomasochistic paraphernalia.

The photos, taken by Italian artist Gabriele Galimberti have been removed by Balenciaga from all social networks along with the publication of a statement apologizing and announcing that they would no longer count on the photographic companies subcontracted for the campaign.

Gabriele Galimberti, in turn, has issued another statement in response to Balenciaga’s, assuring that he merely took the photos following specific instructions from the fashion company, thus trying to counter Balenciaga’s insinuation that they had nothing to do with the artistic decisions of the photo shoot.

It should be remembered that panda bears have a special significance in pedophile circles. According to testimonies from survivors of child abuse, as well as repentant members of these groups, panda bears with black eyes represented the prominent dark circles under the eyes that children would develop as a result of the dread, crying, and trauma of being subjected to such abuse.

But if these photos of panda bears with apparent sadomasochistic and pedophilic symbolism are serious, even more serious are the implications of another photo from the Balenciaga collection – taken by another photographic company other than Gabriele Galimberti’s – in which a handbag can be seen on some messy papers on an office table.

Thanks to Internet users’ research, it has been possible to verify that what is printed on these papers is the judgment of the Supreme Court United States v. Williams, 553 U.S. 285 (2008), which deals precisely with child pornography.

balenciaga repulsive campaign
Source: Twitter

The photos of children and stuffed animals, although repulsive and inappropriate, may be subject to ambiguity, however, the subtle and seemingly not accidental inclusion of this reference to a legal document concerning child pornography, turns mere suspicions and interpretations into indications that the pedophile issue could indeed be the leitmotif of the whole campaign.

While Balenciaga has withdrawn the photos, issued a statement apologizing and announced that it would take legal action against the company that took the photos of the bag on top of the Supreme Court decision, the truth is that this campaign brings the pedophilia debate back to the table.

Balenciaga and the increasing sexualization of children

In recent years, the sexualization of children has become a recurring theme in American politics. Republicans accuse Democrats of associating with organizations and ideological currents that promote this type of behavior, while Democrats defend themselves by saying that these types of accusations are nothing more than conspiracy theories.

Balenciaga’s campaign would include things like drag shows for children, sex education with gender ideology in schools, sex change treatments for minors, the inclusion of homosexual references in children’s movies, and a long etcetera.

Individually, each of these things could have some justification or accept nuances, but taken together they would confirm that they could be the result of a coordinated action of different activists within the business and political world, and not simply right-wing conspiracy theories.

Ignacio Manuel García Medina, Business Management teacher. Artist and lecturer specialized in Popular Culture for various platforms. Presenter of the program "Pop Libertario" for the Juan de Mariana Institute. Lives in the Canary Islands, Spain // Ignacio M. García Medina es profesor de Gestión de Empresas. Es miembro del Instituto Juan de Mariana y conferenciante especializado en Cultura Popular e ideas de la Libertad.

Social Networks: @ignaciomgm

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