Fashion brand Zara has removed ads from its website to clear up misunderstandings.
LONDON: Fashion brand Zara said on Tuesday it regretted a “misunderstanding” and retracted an ad campaign that featured white-clad statues, which led to a boycott of stores by some Palestinian supporters. Outside boycotts and protests were born.
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Tens of thousands of people complained about the promotion on Zara’s Instagram page, claiming the images resembled images of white shrouded corpses in Gaza. On the texting app X, “#boycottZara” trended.
Fashion brand Zara’s announcement illustrates how difficult it is for international corporations to manage the sensitivities surrounding the Gaza war. After criticism of what some saw as insensitive advertising, Zara is the first major Western business to take such drastic action.
Purpose of the campaign
According to Zara, the campaign, which featured casts of missing limbs, was aimed at photographing unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio. It was conceived in July and photographed in September, just before the start of the war in October.
“Unfortunately, some customers took offense to the images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something that was done at the time of their creation,” Zara said in an Instagram post.
It added that the images were used “only to showcase the handcrafted clothing in an artistic setting.”
“Zara regrets this misunderstanding and reaffirms our deepest respect for everyone,” Zara said.
A video shared on social media and confirmed by Reuters shows a group of protesters waving a Palestinian flag in front of a Zara store in the Tunisian capital Tunis on Monday.
The pictures were offensive
The Advertising Standards Authority in the UK reported that it had received 110 complaints about the Zara campaign, which alleged that the image was offensive and referenced the Gaza war. “We will not be taking any further action as Zara has now removed the ad,” the ASA said in a statement.
Also Read: Zara Angers Netizens by Portraying Gaza Destruction in New Campaign
Zara’s parent company Inditex confirmed that six postings featuring the “Atelier” campaign have been removed from the Instagram page and the images have been removed from all platforms. On Monday, Zara removed the photo shoot from the main pages of both its website and app.
One of Zara’s priciest collections, the “Atelier” line includes six jackets ranging in price from $229 for a gray wool blazer with heavy knit sleeves to $799 for a studded leather jacket. On Zara’s websites, the jackets were still on sale.
Analysts expect sales growth to be modestly slower in Inditex’s fiscal third quarter that begins Wednesday as a result of unusually mild October weather in Europe.
