Luxury fashion brand Balenciaga is under fire online over photos showing two young girls holding stuffed animals dressed in what appears to be bondage gear.
In another photo from the same advertising shoot, eagle-eyed social media users spotted a document tucked under a Balenciaga handbag, which appears to be a court case about child pornography.
YouTuber June Lapine, aka Shoe0nHead, called out the bizarre images on Twitter.
“The brand ‘Balenciaga’ just did a uh … interesting … photo-shoot for their new products recently which included a very purposely poorly hidden court document about ‘virtual child porn’. Normal stuff,” she wrote.
Based on the text in the zoomed-in image, social media sleuths claimed the document was from Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, a 2002 US Supreme Court case which struck down a ban on “virtual” child pornography.
At the time, the court found that the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996 violated the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech because no children were harmed in the production of computer-generated images.
The fashion house — which has been associated with the likes of Kim Kardashian and previously made headlines for its daring fashion choices — featured the young models in Balenciaga apparel, holding plush toys that contrasted with the horrifying bondage get-ups.
Want to stream your news? Flash lets you stream 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer available for a limited time only >
In one image, a ginger-haired little girl sported a T-shirt from the brand while holding the strap connected to a white bear, which was in a vest with a padlocked choker around its neck.
In another, a brunette child donned a blue outfit while clutching a purple plush animal, which was sporting similarly BDSM attire.
Balenciaga did not immediately respond to the NY Post’s request for comment.
The brand has since removed the pictures of children from its Instagram.
Online shoppers were infuriated, calling the images “frightening”, “creepy” and “wrong”.
“I thought people were trolling, but nope. It’s real. Maybe this is why Balenciaga left Twitter. They don’t want to be held accountable. Yes, these are children holding teddy bears dressed in bondage outfits,” one Twitter user wrote.
Earlier this month, Balenciaga joined a long line of companies fleeing the social media platform amid ongoing chaos since Elon Musk’s takeover.
“This is f’ing gross and infuriating. I try my best to avoid what seem like conspiracies here on Twitter, but they intentionally included this child porn reference in their shoot,” another user said.
“Ew even if the rest is too ‘conspiracy theory’ for the small brained people out there, WHY would you have a child holding a teddy bear with bondage gear on???? So gross! F**k Balenciaga,” a third wrote.
“Balenciaga using photos of little girls playing with teddy bears dressed in bondage gear on their website. Lovely,” someone else said.
“Frightening how many adults must have been involved in this. Parents, photographers, creative directors, copy writers, web designers, design agency staff, producers, managers, advertisers. And not one of them thought ‘hang on a minute’?” one user agreed.
“Jesus that’s just creepy and wrong,” commented someone else.
The fashion brand has been in some hot water recently after “Ye” — the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, who was once associated with the French company — fired off offensive statements in yet another online rant.
In the days following his remarks, Balenciaga announced it would be cutting ties with the rapper, becoming one of the many brands to separate themselves from his reputation.
“Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist,” the brand’s parent company, Kering, previously said in a statement.
— with NY Post