Fashion brand Zara has pulled down an advertising campaign that featured mannequins with missing limbs and statues covered in white sheets from the landing page of its website and mobile application. The campaign, which also had model Kristen McMenamy posing in the middle of what looked like rubble, drew flak from all quarters after pro-Palestine activists said it resembled images of Israeli assault on the people of Gaza.
People on X (formerly Twitter) started using the hashtag "#BoycottZara" on Monday, and over 100,000 comments appeared on Zara's Instagram posts. Users criticised the ads, saying they looked like pictures of bodies in white shrouds at mass graves in Gaza.
Inditex, the owner of Zara, claimed that the "Atelier" collection was conceptualised in July, and the photos were taken in September, according to Reuters. A source from Zara told iNews, “Perhaps this was very bad timing.”
The photos that appeared on Zara's online store homepage on Monday morning were no longer visible on the website or its app by 12:30 GMT (6 pm IST). A link on the UK website directed to Zara Atelier, but it displayed last year's collection. The current collection comprises six jackets, making it one of Zara's priciest, ranging from $229 for a grey wool blazer with chunky knit sleeves to $799 for a studded leather jacket.
Zara's December 7 launch took inspiration from men's tailoring in the past, they said. The photos show scenes resembling an artist's studio with ladders, packing materials, wooden crates, cranes, and assistants wearing overalls.
Since the boycott began, protesters have gathered outside Zara stores, spray-painting "Free Palestine" slogans on windows and staging marches inside the stores, carrying bundles of white clothes to mock the campaign's imagery.
People have also found Zara's Head Designer Vanessa Perilman's past message to Palestinian model Qaher Harhash on Instagram. In the 2021 message, Perilman expressed controversial views, stating, “Maybe if your people were educated, then they wouldn't blow up hospitals and schools that Israel helped to pay for in Gaza.”
“The people in my industry know the truth about Israel and Palestine and I will NEVER stop defending Israel and people like you come and go in the end. Israelis don't teach children to hate nor throw stones at soldiers as your people do,” she added at the time.
Even though the campaign was taken down, the fallout persists, with people continuing to discuss and advocate for boycotting the brand. “Too late for tears, damage is done. We know y'all's Art or fashion director is a virulent Zionist. We will not shop or even breathe near Zara's. Y'all played yourselves. The clown will come back to bite,” one user wrote on X.
Israel's ongoing assault on besieged Gaza has entered its third month, killing roughly 18,000 people, with women and children forming the majority of victims. The latest instance of violence in what's been a decades-long occupation began after Hamas fighters attacked a music festival in Israel, killing 1200 people and taking several hostages.
