Zara Facing Backlash for Ad Resembling Gaza Destruction

After some pro-Palestine activists called for a boycott of the fashion company, Zara removed an advertisement campaign on Monday off the first page of its website and app. The campaign featured sculptures shrouded in white and mannequins with missing limbs.

Zara Removes Ad After Calls for Boycott

Inditex, the parent company of Zara, stated that the modification was a standard part of their content update process. The "Atelier" collection was designed in July, and the images were taken in September, the company stated, without responding to the calls for a boycott. After October 7, Israel and Hamas went to battle.

Tens of thousands of people commented on the images on Zara's Instagram account, many of which included Palestinian flags, and "#BoycottZara" became popular on texting app X.

A model is seen holding a white-clad mannequin in one of the pictures, a bust is seen lying on the ground in another, and a mannequin without arms is shown in yet another. Some who saw them stated they looked like images of dead bodies in white shrouds in Gaza.

At the collection's December 7 debut, Zara stated that the line was influenced by men's tailoring from earlier eras. The images seem to depict an artist's workspace complete with ladders, packing boxes, wooden crates, cranes, and overall-clad helpers.

This response underscores the increased awareness that global corporations are dealing with as the violence in Gaza worsens and demands for business boycotts gain momentum. After making remarks on the Israel-Hamas conflict in October, the CEO of Web Summit tendered his resignation.

By 12:30 GMT on Monday, the images that had been shown on Zara's online shop homepage had vanished from both the website and the app.

On the UK website, a link to Zara Atelier sent users to a page featuring the collection from the previous year.

The six jackets in the collection are among Zara's priciest; they range in price from $229 for a grey wool blazer with thick knit sleeves to $799 for a leather jacket with studs.

Zara Criticized for Marketing Campaign

This is not the first fashion label to find itself embroiled in controversy as a result of a marketing campaign.

Last year, the French luxury conglomerate Kering created a group level post to supervise brand safety after sales were negatively impacted by criticism to child-themed advertising from its Balenciaga line.

2018 saw the removal of Dolce & Gabbana from Chinese e-commerce platforms following a campaign that included models using chopsticks to eat traditional Italian meals, which local celebrities and social media criticized as being racist.

Last year, after the local franchise director of Zara in Israel sponsored a political campaign event for an ultranationalist lawmaker, the business faced criticism from some Israelis and Palestinians.