Kering, the parent company behind embattled luxury brand Balenciaga, is facing another PR dustup this week over backlash to a promotional image featuring Harry Styles for Gucci, another one of the company’s brands.
In the Gucci campaign, which was released on Nov. 2, Styles wears a teddy bear T-shirt while posing next to a toddler-sized mattress. Teddy bears were also at the center of the Balenciaga ad campaign firestorm that led many to denounce or boycott the brand for producing troubling photos of children.
“Play is at the very heart of the Gucci HA HA HA collection...its name after all is the onomatopoeic sound of the written essence of the ‘laughing face’ emoji, as well as the serial crasis of the initials of ‘Harry’ and ‘Alessandro,’” the brand said in November when the campaign, which they called a “performance piece,” was released. “Starting from those small oddities that come together in childlike visions, it turns into a ‘dream wardrobe’ reflecting the two creative spirits behind the collection.”
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Some social media users pounced on the ad as yet another fashion misstep, including Alexandra Gucci Zarini, whose great-grandfather was the founder of Gucci.
“Why would you create a ‘performance piece’ with a toddler's mattress and an adult man?” Zarini wrote on Instagram. “My concerns are that there seems to be a common ideology across Kering’s fashion houses.”
“A toddler mattress with a grown man and a teddy bear on his shirt… Symbolism will be their downfall,” another person commented.
The campaign was conceived by Alessandro Michele, the former creative director of Gucci; Gucci announced in late November that Michele would be departing his role after seven years. The Daily Beast reached out to Gucci, Michele, and Styles for comment.
