Balenciaga, the international luxury fashion powerhouse, is facing massive controversies for two offensive and tone-deaf ad campaigns, featuring young children with S&M accessories. The company is now suing a production company, North Six, for the work it did in creating one of the ads.

The international scandal has two distinct ad campaigns at its foundation.

The first ads launched in the Balenciaga holiday campaign in early November, where very young children were posed in photos featuring S&M accessories, holding their new teddy bear bag. But only a few weeks after the initial shocking ads were published, a second ad created another slew of global outrage.

When the Balenciaga ads first went viral on November 16, a cacophony of celebrities, media hosts, and citizens announced their disgust at the images and shared their views widely in numerous viral social media statements and in the press. These holiday ads featured children holding the brand’s new plush teddy bears, which were dressed in leather harnesses and fishnet tops. The teddy bears’ outfits clearly look like bondage items.

The young children were also photographed amid chain necklaces and other items such as flasks and leather accessories.

The ads were immediately condemned by media reporters and social media users plus major celebrities, who called the images “demonic,” among other things, and accused the company of condoning the sexual abuse of children.

Celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, a former superfan of Balenciaga, shared their disgust at the ads. Though Kardashian took a few days to weigh in on the controversial ads, she published her reaction on Twitter saying, “As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images. 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.”

Moms, authors and numerous organizations have spoken out against the use of children in provocative ads. Author Kimberly Plante, the author of the new memoir Worthy, which is about her childhood abuse, said she believes the ad campaign is offensive and also normalizes the sexualization of children.

"Balenciaga's offensive images are dangerous because children are used in child exploitation ads, which is never acceptable," said Plante. "As a survivor of abuse, I am sickened by these ads."

Despite apologizing profusely to the world for the offensive ads, on November 21 another backlash was unleashed against the brand when viewers noticed something shocking in the spring 2023 Balenciaga ad campaign on the company’s website.

In the backdrop of the new ad in collaboration with Adidas, which is showing off a $3,000 bag, was a page from a 2008 Supreme Court ruling, United States v. Williams. That Supreme Court ruling upheld the constitutionality of a child pornography conviction.

Viewers started posting and news hosts started asking: Was it an awful coincidence or a planned secret message? The firestorm following this discovery was deafening. Media pundits on the right and left are now asking if Balenciaga was condoning child exploitation.

This latest ad was removed from the firm’s website. Balenciaga released an apology statement, saying in part, (We made) “a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility,” and would conduct both “internal and external investigations” while contacting “organizations who specialize in child protection and aim at ending child abuse and exploitation.”

The new $25 million lawsuit was filed by Balenciaga in New York on November 25, against the production company North Six and the set designer Nicholas Des Jardins. Balenciaga alleges the defendants engaged in inexplicable acts and omissions” and that they were “malevolent or, at the very least, extraordinarily reckless.”

Owned by the French conglomerate Kering, Balenciaga has deep pockets for legal fees. Other luxury fashion houses owned by Kering include Saint Laurent, Gucci and more.

Though no one knows how the court will rule in this lawsuit, it is obvious the court of public opinion has made its own decision about Balenciaga.