Has Balenciaga Recovered From The Child Campaign Scandal?

In 2022, an ad campaign featuring children holding teddy bears in bondage harnesses and costumes embroiled both Balenciaga and its designer, Demna, in controversy. Since then, the company has been on an arduous journey toward rehabilitation. Four runway shows, six collections, and a handful of red-carpet outfits later, fashion and celebrity circles alike seem to have warmed back up. In January, the brand came full circle: Just over a year after Kim Kardashian claimed to be “reevaluating” her long-standing relationship with the brand in the wake of the scandal, she’s launched her first campaign as Balenciaga’s official ambassador. By all appearances, the brand is at the end of its road to redemption — at least for now. What was the Balenciaga scandal all about? In November 2022, Balenciaga released its holiday ad campaign featuring children holding teddy bears in bondage harnesses and costumes. (The BDSM accessories were also on the runway at Balenciaga’s show at Paris Fashion Week.) The backlash against the images was swift, with the hashtag #cancelBalenciaga trending across Twitter and TikTok and many accusing the brand and its creative director, Demna, of condoning pedophilia and child exploitation. In a separate ad that dropped later that month, a bag from the fashion house’s collaboration with Adidas was photographed atop copies of what appear to be documents from the Supreme Court case United States v. Williams, a ruling that upheld the PROTECT Act, which increased fede