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Fashion brand Zara was forced to remove an advertising campaign featuring mannequins wrapped in white from its website and app after ‘similarities’ to photos of the shrouds worn by the deceased in Gaza were pointed out.

Zara made no mention of the boycott of its products that preceded this move but stated that the change was part of its routine procedure for refreshing content. However, it mentioned that the “Atelier” collection was conceived in July, and the photos were taken in September.

The campaign launched after the attack on Israeli civilians by Hamas on 7 October.

Some pro-Palestine activists called for a boycott of the fashion retailer and shared videos depicting the burning of Zara clothes, urging others to participate in a boycott. The boycott itself was more aimed at a franchise owner of Zara stores in Israel who had organised a campaign event at his home for the ultra-right-wing Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir.

 

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Since the attacks in October, there has been ‘an increase in heightened sensitivities to brands seen as supporting either side’. More than 18,000 people have lost their lives and 1.9m people displaced since the beginning of the ‘war’.

The retailer said the advert is inspired ‘by men’s tailoring in past centuries’ and has since apologised for what it calls a misunderstanding.

With the number of atrocities being committed worldwide (remember the war in Ukraine and civil wars raging in Sudan, Somalia, Syria etc?), the space for expression is getting smaller as everything is viewed through a ‘for, or against’ lens.

[source:bizcommunity]