(Madrid) Amid calls for a boycott, Spanish brand Zara withdrew an advertising campaign in which it was accused on social networks of resembling images of victims in the Gaza Strip that it defended.
Posted at 10:12 am.
“Some customers felt insulted by these now-deleted images and saw something that was far removed from what was intended when they were created,” Zara, the flagship brand of the world's leading ready-to-wear retailer Inditex, said on Tuesday, in a press release , which was published on social networks.
This advertising campaign in particular featured a model standing with an adult-sized statue wrapped in a white sheet on her shoulder, posing in front of a moving box of works of art, in the middle of a room from which one could see pieces of plaster or parts of destroyed walls .
On social media, this campaign was sometimes accused of resembling images from Gaza.
A message posted on ruins and shrouds as decoration.”
Numerous calls to boycott the brand appeared on social networks under the hashtag #BoycottZara.
In its press release, Zara explains that its advertising campaign was “designed in July and photographed in September,” that is, before the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, which was triggered by a bloody and unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 on Israeli soil from the Gaza Strip.
According to the Spanish brand, this campaign presents “a series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s workshop” and “was created with the sole aim of presenting handmade clothing in an artistic context.”
“Zara regrets this misunderstanding and we reiterate our deep respect for everyone,” the brand concluded in its press release.
At the start of the war, Inditex announced that it would “temporarily” close its brands’ 84 stores in Israel until further notice.
According to Israel, 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the attack on October 7th.
In retaliation, Israel has vowed to “destroy” Hamas and is carrying out devastating bombings in Gaza. Hamas' health ministry reported Monday that those bombings killed 18,205 people, mostly women and young people under 18.