Outspoken Nip/Tuck star AnnaLynne McCord led a protest against European fashion house Balenciaga after the high end brand controversially featured teddy bears in bondage clothing in an advertising campaign.
McCord, 35, was surrounded by around a dozen other protesters outside one of Balenciaga’s flagship stores in Beverly Hills on Saturday. Similar protests took place in New York City and London at the same time.
McCord held a sign with the words: ‘Just why??????’ written across it against the background of Balenciaga’s logo. Other protesters held signs bearing slogans such as: ‘Protect our children’ and ‘Pedophilia is not fashion.’
On Thursday, McCord announced that she would be leading the protest on her Instagram page. She added: ‘If you are against sexual exploitation of children and would like to join, we’d love to have you!’
A day later, Balenciaga’s creative director and chief executive officer both apologized Friday for an advertising campaign that sparked criticism on social media over accusations that it featured inappropriate imagery involving children.
Outspoken Nip/Tuck star AnnaLynne McCord led a protest against European fashion house Balenciaga after the high end brand controversially featured teddy bears in bondage clothing in an advertising campaign
McCord, 35, was surrounded by around a dozen other protesters outside one of Balenciaga’s flagship stores in Beverly Hills on Saturday. Similar protests took place in New York City and London at the same time
On Thursday, McCord announced that she would be leading the protest on her Instagram page
McCord issued a call to action this week telling her followers: ‘If you are against sexual exploitation of children and would like to join, we’d love to have you!’
Photos obtained by DailyMail.com show McCord, 35, with around a dozen or so other protesters outside one of Balenciaga’s flagship stores in Beverly Hills on Saturday
McCord has been open in interviews and on social media about the sexual abuse she suffered as a child
The demonstration, which was supported by the activist group Mom Army, began at 11am local time
According to a post from Mom Army, a total of 20 protests were held in 20 cities on December 3
In September 2019, McCord went public about the sexual abuse she endured as a child in an interview with People.
She said: ‘A year ago, I was in treatment for PTSD and memories of child sexual abuse came back for years all the way until I was 11 years. Now I know why this is my life and this is my story because it is so personal to me.’
The demonstration, which was supported by the activist group Mom Army, began at 11am local time. According to a post from Mom Army, a total of 20 protests were held in 20 cities on December 3.
Earlier this week, vandals in Los Angeles targeted the Balenciaga store on Rodeo Drive spray-painting: ‘Children r not sexual objects’ and ‘Not 4 sex’ nearby.
While in London, artist Joe Bloggs spray painted the word ‘pedophilia’ on the windows of the store in the English capital.
Bloggs told Newsweek: ‘I did it due to the abhorrent photoshoots Balenciaga did and their associations with various… people including Lotta Volkova.’
Volkova is a designer who is associated with the brand. A spokesperson for Volkova said: ‘Lotta Volkova has not worked with Balenciaga or its team since 2018, and she has in no way participated in the brand’s recent Instagram or advertising campaigns.’
Vandalism on an empty store on Rodeo Drive last night in a clear protest against the brand, whose own store is nearby
Earlier this week, Balenciaga dropped its $25million lawsuit against a Brooklyn production company that it claimed was responsible for part of the child imagery scandal it is now drowning in after being widely panned by celebrities.
The fashion house announced on Friday that it was no longer seeking action against North Six, the production company that it said was responsible for child porn legal documents ending up in its July photoshoot.
The decision came after widespread backlash from the fashion industry and celebrities including Yolanda Hadid and Martha Hunt, who said it was trying to shift the blame onto a third party production company to avoid embarrassment.
‘Balenciaga has decided not to pursue litigation,’ the brand said on Friday in an Instagram post where it said it would create an image oversight board.
Meanwhile on social media, disenchanted consumers are burning their Balenciaga goods in protest
The fashion house has however stopped short of firing Demna, the creative director responsible for a different, controversial photoshoot involving children.
He issued a statement on Friday promising to ‘do better’ and vowing to work with children’s protection organizations.
‘I need to learn from this, listen and engage with child protection organizations to know how I can contribute and help on this terrible subject.
‘I apologize to anyone offended by the visuals and Balenciaga has guaranteed that adequate measures will be taken not only to avoid similar mistakes in the future but also to take accountability in protecting child welfare in every way we can,’ he said.
At the start of the statement on Friday, he said: ‘I want to personally apologize for the wrong artistic choice of concept for the gifting campaign with the kids and I take my responsibility.
‘It was inappropriate to have kids promote objects that had nothing to do with them.
‘As much as I would sometimes like to provoke a thought through my work, I would NEVER have an intention to do that with such an awful subject as child abuse that I condemn. Period.’
But on Friday, nearly two weeks after the scandal broke, he released a statement that suggested he was going nowhere
Before the scandal, Demna was the darling of the fashion industry and was credited for boosting the profits of Balenciaga’s parent group, Kering, by $1billion.
He boasted about his unbridled ability to ‘create’, describing in a recent podcast how he no longer felt the need to ‘make the fashion industry understand’.
”I no longer think about making the fashion industry understand what I do,’ he says, ‘I just do it.” ‘Popularity is always very dangerous… you can do anything and it can sell and that’s the dangerous part,’ he said.
There is mounting anger against Balenciaga’s response to the scandal, which has included a threat to sue production company North Six and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins.
Yolanda enthusiastically supported an Instagram post which slammed Balenciaga’s response.
The post read: ‘As a long-time and experienced member of the fashion and creative industry, I am compelled to state my support of North Six in its ongoing involvement with Balenciaga.
‘It is troubling to see a fashion house knowingly deflect blame on the hired production company to avoid responsibility for its own creative decisions.
‘Clients are on the set and, are responsible for all approvals throughout and, most importantly, have final say before all images are released to the public.
‘Production does not create the vision but works to serve clients and bring to life their vision, not contribute their own – a practice that brands have long followed.
‘I stand with my community to ensure that blaming production companies for the fallout and problems associated with vision and image does not become the norm and hope that Balenciaga will see to it that North Six’s name is properly cleared.’
She commented beneath it: ‘Yes 100%’.
Bella is yet to condemn Balenciaga and has not confirmed whether or not she plans to continue working with the brand.
There are planned protests in multiple cities this weekend with stars including Anna Lynne McCord vowing to boycott the brand.
There is also growing outrage over the fact that Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and other department stores continue to sell Balenciaga products.
Demna lives in Paris with his husband and has not been seen since the scandal erupted two weeks ago.
THE BALENCIAGA SCANDAL: BONDAGE BEARS, CHILD PORN DOCS AND AN ARTIST KNOWN FOR DEPICTING NAKED KIDS
The Bondage Bears Christmas campaign
The scandal erupted when Balenciaga released its 2022 Holiday ad campaign that featured children posing with its Plush Toy Bag. The bags look like teddy bears and are dressed in BDSM gear.
In the photo shoot, the kids also appeared surrounded by empty wine and champagne glasses.
The distinctly adult themes immediately troubled many who asked why children had ever been used.
Balenciaga ignored the scandal at first and seemingly allowed the photographer who was involved, Gabriele Galimberti, to take the heat.
He released a statement saying he had no control over the content of the shoot and eventually, Balenciaga released its own statement agreeing with him and taking responsibility for the campaign.
It has now been pulled from the internet.
The hidden child porn documents
After the BDSM bears fiasco, eagle-eyed critics started examining the rest of Balenciaga’s campaigns closely.
They soon discovered that in the background of an image from the Spring ’23 campaign was a printout of a Supreme Court ruling on whether or not internet child porn can be legally considered free speech.
On the back of the bears scandal, many critics said it pointed to a troubling pattern within Balenciaga.
Balenciaga was quick to blame North Six, a production company that helped arrange the shoot, for the inclusion of those documents.
They claimed that they entrusted all of the props from the photoshoot to North Six, and that their team was assured everything that was included was fake.
The troubling book of artist whose work depicts naked, castrated toddlers
Balenciaga is yet to answer for the inclusion of a book by Michael Borremans in the background of two of the images from the Spring ’23 campaign.
Borremans is a Belgian painter whose work includes a troubling 2017 series called Fire From The Sun.
It depicts naked toddlers – some of them castrated – playing in a group and at times alone.
Lawyers for the brand are yet to address DailyMail.com’s questions about how the book ended up on the photoshoot.
In this image from Balenciaga’s scrapped Spring ’23 campaign, Isabelle Huppert sits in front of a stack of books including one that celebrates Michael Borremans, a Belgian painter whose work is known to include depictions of castrated toddlers
Borremans’ other work includes his 2017 series Fire From The Sun, which features castrated toddlers and babies holding what look like severed limbs, while playing together nude in a large group