Brittany Aldean has thrown out her Balenciaga bags and other items in protest of the high-end fashion brand’s recent ad campaign that glorified child sex abuse.
In a post on Instagram, the wife of country music star Jason Aldean shared a photo of herself carrying bags of Balenciaga-branded items, with the caption: “It’s trash day.”
She also tagged Balenciaga’s Instagram page in the post.
Balenciaga was forced to pull its holiday campaign following a severe widespread backlash.
The campaign features imagery of children holding teddy bears in sexually suggestive costumes and props that included books containing child pornography.
Balenciaga pulled the controversial photos last week, which showed two young girls holding stuffed animals that were wearing leather harnesses.
Part of the set allegedly included documents from a U.S. Supreme Court case involving a federal child pornography law.
Balenciaga wrote an apology on its Instagram stories last week and then scrubbed its account of all the images.
“We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused,” the brand wrote.
“Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign.
“We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.”
Many have argued, however, that an Instagram apology doesn’t go far enough.
The company also apologized for “displaying unsettling documents” in its campaign, adding that the brand “take[s] this matter very seriously and [is] taking legal action against the parties responsible for creating the set and including unapproved items for our spring 23 campaign photoshoot.”
Brittany Aldean has been outspoken in the past about children, especially regarding kids wanting to transition to another gender.
“I think that children should not be allowed to make these life-changing decisions at such a young age,” she told Fox News star Tucker Carlson in September.
“They are not mature enough; they should have parents who love them and advocate for them regardless.
“We have ages on everything,” she noted.
“We have it for cigarettes, driving, military, voting … yet for some reason, people think that we can let a child choose their gender so young.
“It’s very baffling to me.”
Aldean’s comments came after she received backlash for thanking her family for not changing her gender during her “tomboy phase.”
In addition to Aldean, other celebrities like Kim Kardashian have spoken out about the Balenciaga controversy.
Kardashian, an ambassador for Balenciaga, said she was “reevaluating” her relationship with the brand.
“As a mother of four, I have been shaken by the disturbing images.
“The safety of children must be held with the highest regard, and any attempts to normalize child abuse of any kind should have no place in our society — period.”
“I have been quiet for the past few days, not because I haven’t been disgusted and outraged by the recent Balenciaga campaigns, but because I wanted an opportunity to speak to their team to understand for myself how this could have happened,” she said across her social media platforms Sunday.
While Kardashian said she was happy the ads were removed, she refused to distance herself from the luxury company entirely and will wait to see what kind of “accountability” Balenciaga takes going forward.
Megyn Kelly responded to Kardashian’s failure to drop the brand by describing the reality star as a “disgusting, shameful billionaire” who believes “money is worth more than her morals and the protection of these children.”
