Report: Balenciaga Ad Appears to Have ‘Baal’ Tape and Other Possible Satanic Symbols

Balenciaga (1)
Mary Altaffer/AP; screenshots @ChaparroSchadr1
Paul Bois

One of the Balenciaga ads in the campaign that has ignited a firestorm of controversy appears to feature the name “Baal” and other possible symbols associated with satanism.

The fashion empire Balenciaga came under fire last week when it released an ad campaign that featured children holding BDSM-clad teddy bear handbags. Another separate ad campaign featured adult models in an office setting and displayed a document related to a child pornography Supreme Court case. In the wake of the massive backlash, the company has apologized and removed the ad campaign from its public platforms.

“We stand for children safety and well-being,” the company said. “We sincerely apologize for any offense our holiday campaign may have caused. Our plush bear bags should not have been featured with children in this campaign.”

As noted by the New York Post, another image in the ad campaign has been sparking accusations of satanism due to some rather inexplicable images, including a roll of tape displaying the word “Baal” in an apparent reference to the “ancient fertility god worshipped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities, including the Canaanites, who were infamous for sacrificing children.” The theory and speculation stemmed from a TikTok video that has amassed millions of views. The video notes some rather striking images in the ad — which features a black-hooded boy in a cluttered room — such as a drawing of what appears to be a horned red figure as well as a perfectly folded black hoodie, two red shoes, and an awkwardly placed candle.

Notable about the tape is that Balenciaga has featured it in other ads before with the correct spelling of its brand name. In fact, brand ambassador Kim Kardashian wore a “caution tape suit” at the Paris Fashion Week show.

As the New York Post noted, fashion industry insiders believe that Balenciaga has not adequately blamed its own creative director, Demna Gvasalia, who would have had final approval on the ad campaigns.

“Oh please,” said Olga Liriano, a model booker. “Demna doesn’t put out one image that he hasn’t approved. Demna is not only the creative director, he’s driving all the imagery behind the campaigns. To blame a production company is nuts.”

Balenciaga filed a $25 million lawsuit against the producers of the advertisement campaign last week, per the New York Post:

The fashion house brought the suit Friday against production company North Six, Inc. and set designer Nicholas Des Jardins and his eponymous company for the inclusion in one of the ads of legal documents from a US Supreme Court decision on child porn laws.

The fashion brand ad also showed unsettling pictures of a child holding teddy bears dressed in bondage outfits. The two-page court summons doesn’t mention the BDSM teddy bears.

Balenciaga is bringing the case “to seek redress for extensive damages defendants caused in connection with an advertising campaign Balenciaga hired them to produce,” the Manhattan Supreme Court summons alleges.

Gabriele Galimberti, the photographer who captured the ads, said that he had absolutely no say on the creative input and that Balenciaga chose to have children as models, charging they wanted a “punk” theme. Galimberti was only allowed to photograph using a previous style he employed in a rather innocuous photo series that featured children from around the world posing with their toys.

“I am not in a position to comment on Balenciaga’s choices, but I must stress that I was not entitled in whatsoever manner to neither chose the products, nor the models, nor the combination of the same,” he wrote in a statement. “As a photographer, I was only and solely requested to lit [sic] the given scene, and take the shots according to my signature style.”

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