New Delhi: Spanish retail clothing chain Zara recently faced backlash over the release of its latest ad campaign, photos of which resembled the images of corpses in white shrouds in Gaza. Internet users stated that the fast fashion retailer mocked the destruction caused as a result of the Israel-Hamas war. The company has apologised saying that the campaign was created months earlier.
Zara’s advertising campaign called “The Jacket” featured mannequins with missing limbs and statues covered in white sheets from the landing page of its website and mobile application. The campaign also showed model Kristen McMenamy posing in the middle of what looked like rubble. Other pictures showed the model inside a wooden box. Although it aimed to promote six new jackets, however, cracked stones, damaged statues and broken plasterboard, caught the attention of the users. Some also pointed out that the ad campaign showing the plywood boards resembled the map of Palestine. The ad drew flak from all quarters after pro-Palestine activists said it resembled images of Israel’s assault on Gaza residents.
Several users urged to boycott the brand and within no time the hashtag “#BoycottZara” started trending on X. More than 100,000 comments with images of the Palestine flag appeared on Zara’s Instagram posts about the photos.
Since the boycott began, protesters gathered outside Zara stores, spray-painting “Free Palestine” slogans on windows and staging marches inside the stores, carrying bundles of white clothes to mock the campaign’s imagery.
In response, the fashion brand pulled down the advertising campaign and said that they regret the “misunderstanding”. Zara said that customers saw “something far from what was intended when they were created”.
They said, “After listening to comments regarding the latest Zara Atelier campaign “The Jacket”, we would like to share the following with our customers: The campaign, that was conceived in July and photographed in September, presents a series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craftmade garments in an artistic context. Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created. Zara regrets that misunderstanding and we reaffirm our deep respect towards everyone.”
The pictures were removed from both the website and the app.
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