Balenciaga Hit with Lawsuit Over Ad Campaigns

Balenciaga is headed to court after releasing two controversial ad campaigns this month, with one featuring young children holding plush bear bags that appear to be wearing S&M-style harnesses, and another, its Spring 2023 ad, which includes a page from a Supreme Court decision, in which the court upheld a federal statute prohibiting the pandering of child pornography. In the wake of significant consumer backlash, including widespread calls for Balenciaga’s big-name celebrity ambassadors like Kim Kardashian to boycott the brand, Balenciaga has filed a lawsuit against production company North Six, Inc. and its agent, Nicholas Des Jardins, the latter of whom designed the set for the Spring campaign, alleging that the defendants engaged in “inexplicable acts and omissions” that were “malevolent or, at the very least, extraordinarily reckless.” 

According to a summons with notice filed with the Supreme Court of the State of New York on November 25, counsel for Kering-owned Balenciaga SAS and Balenciaga America assert that they are filing a lawsuit against North Six, Inc. and its agent, set designer Nicholas Des Jardins d/b/a Nicholas Des Jardins LLC (the “defendants”), to “seek redress for extensive damages [they] caused in connection with an advertising campaign Balenciaga hired them to produce.” Without its knowledge or authorization, Balenciaga claims that the defendants “included certain documents in the campaign photographs,” including an excerpt from the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in U.S. v. Williams, which appears in the background of an image featuring a collaborative Balenciaga and adidas Hourglass handbag. (While adidas is facing backlash from consumers as a result of the Spring 23 Balenciaga campaign, in which its branding appears, it not a plaintiff in the lawsuit.)

As a result of the defendants’ “misconduct,” Balenciaga alleges that “members of the public, including the news media, have falsely and horrifically associated Balenciaga with the repulsive and deeply disturbing subject of the court decision,” and as a result, the defendants are liable to Balenciaga for “all harm resulting from this false association.” This includes monetary damages of “no less than $25 million.” 

Read the source article at thefashionlaw.com