Balenciaga, Kim Kardashian, and the Sexualizing of America’s Youth
The Contreversy
Over the years media has evolved, and with it fashion culture. Usher in the need for shock factor and the need to wow an ever-bored audience, and a brand can often go too far to engage its demographic, but how far is too far?
Our journey begins when photographer Gabriele Galimberti was tasked to shoot a new campaign for Balenciaga. Balenciaga, a luxury fashion house, has stayed in the news recently for its campaigns and runway shows featuring odd concepts like models walking in trash bags or down a mud runway, and they have even had campaign footage trending on Tiktok due to its shock factor, drawing in Gen Z and Millenials. In fact, based on the demographics of Balenciaga’s official website their target audience remains 25–34-year-olds.
So, it was definitely an ill-received shock to their audience when Balenciaga carried out a campaign featuring six young children adorned in BDSM teddy bears and surrounded by chains, mini dominatrix heals, and even what appeared to be a collar. The children featured in the photoshoot ranged from visibly distraught to confused as they clung the monstrous apparel to their small fingers. As a consumer who is deeply disturbed by this display of neglect for the safety and well-being of the children involved, the campaign makes it woefully apparent how little Balenciaga truly cares about the community or its consumer. Secondly, the campaign shows who Balenciaga’s true audience really is. Perverts!
To believe it is in any way right to subject an innocent child to the eyes and creeps of the world by making them represent the latest kink for the profit of a luxury brand, you truly must be insane. The fact that a photographer, multiple editors, designers, and most likely the brand’s PR representatives okay’d this campaign at every step is terrifying and you have to look towards those that represent the company for answers. That’s where Kim Kardashian comes in.
The History of Kim Kardashians Relationship with Balenciaga
Kim Kardashian is perhaps the most well-known brand ambassador chosen to be a part of the “Balenciaga family.” The Kardashian has been a hallmark of the fashion giant for many years, having walked the runway for the brand, worn its apparel in many social media posts promoting it, and even accompanying one of its designers Demna to the Met Gala in 2021 where she also wore her infamous head-to-toe black silhouette.
Kim Kardashian and Balenciaga have become synonymous with each other in the fashion community and it is clear the Kardashian likes it that way. She has been seen dripping Balenciaga from her birthday to Saturday Night Live. Kim Kardashian’s Balenciaga looks have sparked headlines for their ingenuity and individuality, each look more customized for its model than before. It is very apparent that Kim Kardashian and the brand have a close and mutually beneficial relationship, Kim sharing Balenciaga with her heavily Gen Z and Millenial audience and Balenciaga funding a portion of Kim’s lavish lifestyle and keeping her in swag.
As an ambassador and influencer for Balenciaga, Kim Kardashian has a responsibility to be a mouthpiece of reason and morality ensuring that the company she represents shares her morals. As a mother of four and aunt to sixteen nieces and nephews, I grow to wonder how she would feel if any of those children were in the place of the six in the foretold Balenciaga campaign.
The Effects
By sexualizing the children in the campaign, Balenciaga has not only opened the door to their 14.3 million followers to react to the images, but for creeps, perverts, and pedophiles to interact with the BDSM-themed campaign. The children chosen for the campaign are now forever known online for this controversy and sadly have been given an image that will follow them throughout life.
The ill-advised and upsetting campaign paints a picture of the immoral portion of society that would support it. It begs many questions as to why no one spoke up for the innocent, defenseless, and confused children involved. What of the parents, casting agents, managers, set and prop directors, and what of the photographer Gabriele Galimberti, what of Kim Kardashian for not immediately cutting ties with the company and representing the world she wants for her children, nieces, and nephews.
The Aftermath
If you are reading this article you already know no one stopped Balenciaga. No one saved the children of the campaign from being sexualized on a national scale. No one stopped the social media manager from posting the photographs or the photographer from aiming the lens at the atrocious scene. Kim Kardashian didn’t cut ties with the brand, and all the brand really did was say, “Whoops” but do you know what you can do? Stop supporting the people that put profits over the well-being and safety of the children of America.
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