Zara Faces Backlash Over Controversial Ad Campaign: A Closer Look at the Fallout
Fashion retailer Zara removed an ad campaign from its mobile application and website with sculptures shrouded in white sheets and mannequins with missing limbs. Pro-Palestine campaigners attacked the advertisement, which featured model Kristen McMenamy posing in the middle of what appeared to be debris, claiming it looked like an Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip’s population.
On Monday, the hashtag “#BoycottZara” was trending on X (formerly Twitter), and more than 100,000 comments were left on Zara’s Instagram photos. Commenters criticized the advertisements, claiming they resembled images of dead in mass graves in Gaza covered in white shrouds.
According to Reuters, Inditex, the company that owns Zara, stated that the “Atelier” collection was conceptualized in July and the images were taken in September. iNews was informed by a Zara insider that “perhaps this was very bad timing.”
By 12:30 GMT (6 pm IST), the images shown on Zara’s online shop homepage on Monday morning had vanished from both the website and the app. On the UK website, there was a link to Zara Atelier, but it showed the collection from the previous year. The six jackets in the collection are among Zara’s most expensive; a grey wool blazer with bulky knit sleeves costs $229, while a studded leather jacket costs $799.
Men’s tailoring from the past served as inspiration for Zara’s December 7 launch, they said. The images depict scenarios that look like they belong in an artist’s workshop, complete with cranes, wooden boxes, packing supplies, ladders, and overall-clad helpers.
Since the boycott started, demonstrators have gathered outside Zara stores, mocking the campaign’s images with bundles of white clothing as they march inside the stores and spray-painting “Free Palestine” inscriptions on windows.
On Instagram, people have also discovered a previous correspondence from Vanessa Perilman, head designer of Zara, to Palestinian model Qaher Harhash. “Maybe if your people were educated, then they wouldn’t blow up hospitals and schools that Israel helped to pay for in Gaza,” Perilman said in the 2021 message, expressing sentiments that have drawn criticism.
“Those in my industry know the reality about Israel and Palestine, and I will never cease supporting Israel. In the end, people like you come and go. She said at the time, “Israelis don’t instill hatred in kids or encourage them to throw stones at troops as your people do.
The advertising was taken down, but the controversy around it endures, with individuals talking about and supporting a boycott of the company. “The damage is done; it’s too late to cry.” We are aware that your art director or fashion director is a fervent Zionist. We won’t go near Zara’s to shop or even breathe. You all fooled yourself. “The clown is going to return to bite,” a person said on X.
Although the advertisement was removed, the debate around it continues, with many discussing and endorsing a boycott of the business. “The damage is done; it’s too late to cry.” We know that your fashion director or art director is a staunch Zionist. We won’t even breathe, much alone go near Zara’s to shop. All of you deceived yourself. Someone on X stated, “The clown is going to come back to bite.”
Pic Courtesy: google/ images are subject to copyright
