バレンシアガの広告が物議 子どもに「ボンデージ」のぬいぐるみ

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】仏ケリング傘下の高級ファッションブランド、バレンシアガが、ボンデージ（性的な拘束行為）衣装とみられるものを着けたぬいぐるみを子どもに持たせた写真を広告に使用し、物議を醸している。同ブランドは広告を撤回し謝罪。米タレントのキム・カーダシアンさんは関係見直しを表明した。（写真はカーダシアンさん）
　問題となったのは２０２３年春夏シーズンの広告に使われた写真２枚で、クマのぬいぐるみの形をしたハンドバッグを持つ子どもを写したもの。ぬいぐるみ部分が、銀色の飾り付きの黒い革ひもを装着していたことから、批判を呼んだ。
　さらに、バレンシアガと独スポーツ用品大手アディダスのコラボ広告で使われた別の写真に、児童ポルノに関する米最高裁判所の判決の文書が紛れていると指摘する声もインターネット上で上がった。
　バレンシアガは先週、問題の写真を取り下げるともに、インスタグラムへの投稿でこれらの広告について謝罪。判決文を使用した広告の制作会社を相手取り、２５００万ドル（約３５億円）の損害賠償支払いを求める訴訟を起こしたと報じられている。
　バレンシアガの広告塔を務めるカーダシアンさんは２７日、７４００万人のフォロワーを持つインスタグラムへの投稿で、「４児の母として、これらの不穏な画像に動揺している」と表明。広告制作の経緯を確認中だとした上で、「バレンシアガとの今後の関係を見直している」と明かした。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/11/29-12:54）

Reality show star and social media titan Kim Kardashian said she is re-evaluating her involvement with luxury fashion house Balenciaga, after it apologized for ads featuring children holding teddy bears wearing what critics called bondage gear.
The French brand, part of the luxury Kering group, last week withdrew the photos from the Spring/Summer 2023 advertising campaign. Two of them showed young children holding handbags in the shape of teddy bears, which were wearing black leather straps with silver studs.
Internet commentators noticed another photo from a Balenciaga-Adidas ad collaboration showed printed documents from a US Supreme Court ruling on child pornography.
After that revelation, Balenciaga filed a $25 million lawsuit against the company that produced the advertisements, according to reports.
As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images, Kardashian, a celebrity ambassador for the brand, wrote on Instagram Sunday night, adding that she had spent the last few days talking with the Balenciaga team to understand for myself how this could have happened.
The safety of children must be held with the highest regard and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society -- period, she wrote.
As for my future with Balenciaga, I am currently re-evaluating my relationship with the brand, the star posted to her account, which has 74 million followers.
Last week, Balenciaga posted an apology on its own Instagram account.
Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign. We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms, the post said.
They then posted another apology, this time addressing the ad that featured the court documents referencing child pornography laws.
We apologize for displaying unsettling documents in our campaign. We take this matter very seriously and are taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved items for our Spring 23 campaign photoshoot, the post said.
The New York Post reported that Balenciaga had filed a $25 million lawsuit against production company North Six and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins.
Amelia Brankov, a lawyer for Des Jardins, said there certainly was no malevolent scheme going on.
As Balenciaga is aware, numerous boxes of documents simply were sourced from a prop house as rental items, she told AFP.
Moreover, representatives from Balenciaga were present at the shoot, overseeing it and handling papers and props, and Des Jardins as a set designer was not responsible for image selection from the shoot, the lawyer added.
For Balenciaga, who apologized again on Monday following Kardashian's comments, the controversy comes at a bad time.
It had ended its partnership with Kardashian's ex-husband, rapper and designer Kanye West, last month after West, also known as Ye, posted an anti-Semitic tweet and appeared at a Paris fashion show wearing a shirt with the slogan White Lives Matter, a rebuke to the Black Lives Matter racial equality movement.