Balenciaga Obloquy
Balenciaga Obloquy
The world of
Balenciaga – ‘The Master of Haute Couture’
An organization has a leader. The leader/leaders set out instructions for the organization’s socially accepted core values, rules, and regulations, the dos and don’ts, and the pros and cons of every action. Everything is charted accordingly with the knowledge of the top of the cake to the base of the cake, in between the unseen backbone that quivers to hold everything up. And if it has partners or acquired partners, or mergers, these too will fall under the very umbrella and core values that make the organization.
Shall we start with this?
“The apple does not fall far from the tree”
Campaigns are the competitive restructuring of a brand to expose to the world its products and entice (I repeat) entice the audience with a message to compel them to take action, in this case, an action that might give approval to the devious minds that it is acceptable to portray children as sexual objects. How does a campaign start? Seasons indicate the opening line, events, anniversaries, etc. Let’s take in this instance, the upcoming winter season and new designs to cover that particular season and festivities (note: festivities for ordinary folks are putting up decorations in the house and planning a Christmas dinner, wearing the hideous jumper, and going along with the merriment. But for the rich and famous, it implies a new wardrobe, parties, gifts, being seen, promoting the products, getting into headlines, and making other celebrities/rich/famous envious, so they all try to compete on the grounds of who is richer and modern).
Back to how a campaign started, sorry I drifted off then to the world of haves and the have-nots. A carefully planned campaign takes time, a lot of time, in the case of a top-notch company like Balenciaga, they would have probably started planning in Summer, but then again, I might be wrong. But for the precision and perfection, I would think it would be planned beginning of the middle of summer. A campaign strategy and process are instilled in the company’s marketing book or tools and procedures, but not forgetting the eagle eye of the compliance and legal team will be with it every step of the way. The campaign will involve the duty of the marketing team to have proposals as per routine for seasons’ upcoming projects. It will be aligned with all parts of the organization, the core values, the business goals, corporate branding, the audience, and the budget. Here is how it goes (I tried creating a flow chart but halfway through I just couldn’t be bothered):
Step 1 – Whoever is in charge of the Marketing and Campaign in the legal capacity of a Director or Head, will call for a meeting with his team to remind them of how to do their jobs. In this instance, in a bellowing voice “I want to see the proposal for the winter campaign, meeting is set on Thursday, I want to see as many ideas as possible. Competition is tough, we need to keep our reputation and position at the top“.
Step 2 – The Campaigns Managers, I bet there are many of them, burning the midnight oil, missing family dinners and spending time with their kids, because it is that time of the year, competing with each other to come up with the best idea/theme and design for the campaign.
Step 3 – Meeting Day arrived, all the Heads of Departments sitting elbow to elbow with the etiquette of arrogance and high horse attitude, ready to grill whoever is presenting their proposals. After hearing each presentation and budget, noting down the dos and don’ts, making sure (I repeat) making sure that the campaign ideas/themes are in norm with the ideologies, core values, audience targeting, and legal (I repeat legal compliances) as set forth by the rules and regulations of a decent law-abiding socially responsible organization. One question pops out….is there a safe-guarding department or person? They should have one.
Step 4 – They pick the most compelling and dynamic idea (in this case, the bondage theme with children as models😥) and give their verbal approval. Let us not forget the unseen secretary taking notes of the meeting, which she/he will later finalize and will be termed as minutes of the meeting, fully signed and approved by the Marketing and Campaign Director/Head. The minutes, it will show which idea/theme was approved (in this case, the bondage theme), what steps need to be taken, how much budget was approved, and who is responsible for this and that task. This document will then be shared with all who attended the meeting, and a copy to the big boss on top of the cake. The Secretary or whoever is assigned to oversee will be taking follow-up actions on all the tasks indicated and will report to the boss.
Step 5 – The Marketing Team Manager calls an exclusive meeting the next day of all the people responsible for the successful launch and construction of the campaign. Let’s have a guess – the person whose idea/theme was approved, the products designer, the creative director, the media whosoever, the photographer, the expert in the set construction, the person who gets the models, the list goes on and on, but you do get my gist. The meeting might continue for the next few days, with the break of going home of course, and attending to the most important things in life, eating and sleep.
Step 6 – The work allocation, designs, themes, blah blah blah is concluded and approved (I repeat approved) by this huge team of people involved in the creation of this despicable campaign. Their full meeting minutes is approved and sent to the head of the cake tier for further final approval. They did, however, underestimate the ordinary people of this world (I repeat, the ordinary people of this world. Because their audience target is the rich and famous who get away with everything, and the other rich and famous who turn a blind eye, after all, its Balenciaga, we keep shut and reap the benefits), the people who hold dear their children and wants to protect them from this vile environment that seems to crawl from under all of us.
Step 7 – The studio, the models, the props. It might not look good, redo it, revamp, restyle……camera, action, cut. This might take days for them to finally approve the final shots. Once the team feels that they have achieved the goal which was set out for them to complete (approved by the overall heads remember), the shots are then again sent for approval from the very Heads who looks down at them with their snotty attitude. These snotty heads rule the pen and finally gave a FINAL APPROVAL for the release of the campaign, with full compliance, and sent off by the Legal team.
Step 8 – Meeting with the Heads for the launch date. Decided, done, and dusted. They all go out to celebrate the completion, clinking glasses, getting drunk, snogging their mistresses/lovers, then go home to their family and kids, heads in the clouds, dreaming of reaping the benefits, and holding on to their position for a while longer. (might not happen in that order, but happens all the same).
Results – Campaign launched, everyone’s talking about it, pats in the back for the team, enjoying the exposure. It is a success, all the rich and famous loved it. But as I mentioned before, they underestimate the eagle eyes of the general ordinary public. They seem to forget that the people have a voice, and it will be heard. They forgot that in this world, there are still good decent folks around, folks that care for the safeguarding of children, that care and fight against the exploitation of children, that advocate for the little minds, and little people who cannot fight for themselves, that shouts out as loud as they can to criminalize exhibitions of children as sexual objects for perverts to daydream and contemplate.
With the advent of technology, every voice will be heard, be it Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. Everyone has a window/a platform to send through a message that you, Balenciaga, have tried to use children as sexual objects, that you should realize you have approved the display of sexual bondages depicting children, and now you wash your hands off and pass the buck to the lower level of executives who btw work as per your instructions, to complete the campaign. They only follow orders, so why are you using them as scapegoats for your misdemeanours??
Heads should role, in this context I meant the Heads that approved the campaign, not the team following orders.
~END OF RANT~