Kim Kardashian broke her silence amid Balenciaga’s controversial campaign in which children posed with BDSM-inspired teddy bear purses and included a printout of a child pornography court ruling.
“I’ve been calm these past few days, not because I wasn’t shocked and outraged by Balenciaga’s recent campaigns,” the Skims founder, 42, wrote on Sunday, November 27, via Twitter. “But because I wanted an opportunity to talk to their team and understand for myself how this could have happened.”
The adverts supported Balenciaga’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection and featured two young girls holding the purses – designed like teddy bears in BDSM-inspired looks – while surrounded by Balenciaga products, including clothing and homeware. Other images, which did not show the children, showed a purse resting on a jumble of files and paperwork – which turned out to be an excerpt from a Supreme Court case on child pornography.
Kardashian – who shares children North (9), Saint (6), Chicago (4) and Psalm (3) with his ex-husband KanyeWest – continued: “As a mother of four, I was shaken by the disturbing images. Child safety must be given the highest priority and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society – period.”
She concluded: “I appreciate Balenciaga’s campaign removal and apology. If I speak to them, I believe they will understand the seriousness of the problem and will take the necessary measures to ensure that this never happens again.”
The SKKN by Kim founder came under fire after posing in Balenciaga in a Nov. 21 Instagram post without commenting on the controversy. The reality star has collaborated with the Spanish fashion house many times, posing for campaigns and wearing the brand to the Met Gala.
An hour after her first statement on Sunday, Kardashian added an update on her relationship with the designer: “As for my future with Balenciaga, I’m currently reassessing my relationship with the brand and basing it on their willingness to take responsibility for something that should.” should never happen in the first place – and the measures I expect to take to protect children.”
The company pulled the pictures shortly after the criticism caused a stir on social media.
“We sincerely apologize for any offense our Christmas campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been shown with children in this campaign. We immediately removed the campaign from all platforms,” the company wrote in a statement posted to its Instagram story on Nov. 23.
“We apologize for showing disturbing documents in our campaign,” the message continued. “We take this matter very seriously and are taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set containing unauthorized items for our Spring ’23 campaign photo shoot. We strongly condemn the abuse of children in any form. We stand for the safety and well-being of children.”