By now many have heard that the high-end fashion company Balenciaga was forced by public pressure to pull and apologize for its recent ad campaign featuring preschool children holding teddy bears wearing what looks to average Americans like bondage paraphernalia. In one photo, a child is holding bondage teddy while standing on a sofa in front of which is a coffee table filled with champagne flutes. In the next photo that same child is lying down on the white sofa with her (or his) head on a pink shag pillow. In another photo, a little girl holding another strapped-up teddy is standing on a little girl’s bed.
In a fourth photo, the set designer added a sheaf of papers under a Balenciaga purse. The oh-so-clever choice for the top paper is a court document that refers to a case that overturned a law banning child porn. Does anyone believe that was an accident?
Then in a fifth photo that has received less public scrutiny, a red-haired woman sits in a chair with her feet up on a desk. On the desk corner, hiding in plain sight is a stack of books on top of which sits a controversial book by Belgian artist Michaël Borremans titled Fire from the Sun. While the meaning of Borremans’ collection remains unclear, the grotesque nature of the photos of naked toddlers variously covered in blood or aflame and cannibalizing adults is obvious.
Of all the books, in all the towns, in all the world, this book makes the Balenciaga ad campaign?
And finally, there’s the photo of a little boy near whose feet lays a roll of bright yellow tape on which can be seen the word “Balenciaga” misspelled as “baalenciaga.” A typo? Or an intentional reference to Baal, the god to whom children were sacrificed.
We’re cascading down that slippery slope at warp speed—you know, the slippery slope the warped claim does not exist.
Once in a while, the boundary-free libertines among us get ahead of their skies just a bit and are forced to slow down: “Give the rubes, deplorables, and right-wing Christian extremists a few minutes to absorb cross-dressing men gyrating in front of toddlers before you confront them with images of children with bondage paraphernalia. In due time, my pretties, in due time.”
For more on the story, here’s Tucker Carlson’s analysis:
