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This is the moment a hi-vis clad activist appears to daub the word ‘paedophilia’ across the shop-front of Balenciaga’s luxury Bond Street store following a week of backlash against the fashion giant.
In the footage, a man wearing a neon yellow vest with a bobble hat can be seen appearing to attach something to the front window of the designer store.
As he steps back the word ‘paedophile’ in a vinyl sticker is clearly visible underneath the logo.
The graffiti appeared across the Balenciaga store in Bond Street on Friday evening and it’s not clear if it has since been removed.
The activist, wearing a hi-vis jacket, was filmed daubing the word ‘paedophilia’ across Balenciaga’s Bond Street store, in London
The attack, pictured on Friday, is believed to be in response to a controversial series of adverts by the luxury fashion house which ignited outrage across the globe
Balenciaga has been embroiled in a furious row over sexualising children after a bizarre photoshoot where little girls were seen clutching a ‘BDSM teddy’. Pictured is the vandalism at the Bond Store shop in London
The London store was the latest Balenciaga to be targeted, following an attack at the fashion house’s Beverly Hills store, in Los Angeles.
The assault is believed to be in retaliation to the luxury fashion house’s move to run two controversial ad campaigns which saw them face backlash from fans around the world, including prominent American and Australian influencers.
And social media giant Kim Kardashian has come under pressure amid the scandal, with the influencer refusing to cut ties with the company.
The eyewitness who filmed the latest spate of vandalism said: ‘I’m not entirely sure what organisation the man sticking the vinyl to the glass was from and as far as I know there haven’t been any repercussions.
‘All I know is that Balenciaga has been somewhat empty since the incident.’
Balenciaga has been embroiled in a furious row over sexualising children after a bizarre photoshoot where little girls were seen clutching a ‘BDSM teddy’.
The controversial adverts featured a child clutching X-rated teddy bears wearing bondage gear for Balenciaga’s BDSM-themed fashion shoot
Fashion brand Balenciaga has apologised for what many believe is a photoshoot that amounts to child pornography, with two young girls holding a teddy bear dressed in a BDSM outfit. Pictured: One of the children in the campaign
They were further plunged into crisis after it emerged a previous campaign had featured copies of what looked like documents from the Supreme Court case United States v Williams, a ruling that increased federal protections against child porn.
Outraged shoppers said it was totally wrong for children to be seen clutching the bears – which appeared to be dressed in hyper-sexualised bondage outfits, with some even suggesting it condoned paedophilia.
Social media users have filmed themselves chopping up, throwing out and even crushing pricey Balenciaga products following the scandal – with some celebs appearing to delete posts promoting the brand.
And they applauded the activists for defacing the London store.
One said: ‘Cancel Balenciaga AND Kardashian AND the other brands that this company owns. I don’t even want to know what they do in the backstages.’
Katie Leppard added: ‘Good!’
Following the adverts being aired, the fashion giant has been the target of various attacks, like this one on its flagship Beverly Hills store, in Los Angeles
Another social media user called Aisha added: ‘What we love to see.’
But others remained sceptical.
One user said: ‘Give it a month and people will forget and go back to buying.’
And Vikki Malek added: ‘Funny how everyone is blaming Balenciaga and not the kids’ parents.’
The fashion house has since admitted the campaigns ‘reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes full responsibility’.
It also admitted using children to advertise the plush bear bags clad in leather and fishnet was the ‘wrong choice’.
A spokesperson for Balenciaga said on social media following the scandal: ‘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.
‘We strongly condemn abuse of children in any form. We stand for children’s safety and well-being.’
Balenciaga and the Met Police have been contacted for comment about the incident at its store in London.
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
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