In November, Gucci and Harry Styles released an ad campaign featuring a toddler’s mattress and a teddy bear t-shirt. People compare the ad to Balenciaga’s controversial holiday ad campaign.
Last week, Gucci started further promoting their HA HA HA campaign with Harry Styles on Instagram which lead to outrage. People are furious about the use of a smaller-sized toddler bed as a set prop and the teddy bear t-shirt the singer is wearing.
In one image, the singer is seen with his hands in his pockets wearing a teddy bear t-shirt while posing next to a small mattress. Others showed Styles carrying the bed under his arm.
Despite the campaign’s first launch in November, people are not holding anything back. Many compare the ad campaign with the recent Balenciaga’s which featured children posing with teddy bears dressed in BDSM-style accessories for their holiday ad campaign.
“Play, friendship, passion, a tale of vanity set free, a shared vision of a men’s world as an instrument of the avant-garde for the renewal of culture, the practical and everyday use of a ‘dream wardrobe,’” was the core of the advertisements’ inspiration, according to the brand’s official press statement.
Many are criticizing the company, and Alexandra Gucci Zarini, whose great-grandfather developed the brand, is one of those to publicly oppose Styles’ advertising campaign.
“Why would you create a “performance piece” with a toddler’s mattress and an adult man?” The Daily Mail took a screenshot of a post, Zarini wrote on Instagram. “My concerns are that there seems to be a common ideology across Kering’s fashion houses.”
Former creative director Alessandro Michele was responsible for the campaign’s conception and reigniting the fire. He announced in late November, he is to leave the position after seven years. Play is at the very heart of the Gucci HA HA HA collection, according to the brand, which stated in a news release last month announcing its partnership with the singer.
Just a few weeks ago the french brand Balenciaga apologized for their inappropriate use of props and child pornography documents hidden under other documents.
The creative director of Balenciaga issued an apology for the advertisements, writing on Instagram: “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.”
Public Reaction
One user wrote; Gucci is having harry styles pose alongside a child’s mattress with a pink teddy bear shirt.
Why are all fashion brand ad makers sick creeps?
Other wrote; Let’s see if we can connect some dots. Gucci and Balenciaga are part of the same French corporation, Kering. Harry Styles features in this new Gucci ad campaign wearing a teddy bear t-shirt and carrying a child’s mattress. What might this mean?
“Is this an ad for kids mattresses? If not… why is a kids mattress included with a man in a fashion ad… what are you trying to normalize,” one person wrote.
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