why Zara withdrew an advertising campaign after a controversy

The photos are taken in a construction site, the walls are damaged and some models are covered in dust, and are wearinghe inanimate silhouettes wrapped in white linens. The images of a recent Zara advertising campaign shocked Internet users, who saw it as a depiction of the victims of the bombings in Gaza. They accuse the Spanish clothing brand of making fun of Palestinian civilians.

All weekend, calls for a boycott increased in France and abroad. Zara ultimately removed the photos from social media and its site. Tuesday, December 12, on Instagram, the brand published a message explaining that the campaign was designed in July and photographed in September, before the events of October 7. She apologizes and says the images have nothing to do with current events: according to Zara, this campaign “presents a series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio” And “was created with the sole purpose of presenting artisanal clothing in an artistic context”.

A brand already the target of criticism

This is not the first time that Internet users have seen a reference to the war in Gaza in a photo published by Zara. In November, she sparked strong reactions with a photo showing a young woman dressed in green and black on a red background: these three colors are those of the Palestinian flag. While some accused the brand of siding against Israel, others criticized it for capitalizing on the groundswell of support for Gazan civilians.

The controversy over Zara’s new campaign has led to new comments about an older affair: insulting messages sent by an Israeli designer of the brand, Vanessa Perilman, to a Palestinian model, Qaher Harhash, in 2021. Zara had “sentenced” the words of his employee. The same year, the company was also accused of profiting fromforced labor of Uyghurs, a Muslim community in the Xinjiang region of China.