Fashion brand Zara has taken down all campaign images from its latest collection “The Jacket” from social media following backlash from Islamists. This comes after calls to boycott Zara has been trending on X over the photo shoot.
Pro-Palestinian Islamists had been calling for the boycott of Zara alleging that the retail giant mocked the death of Palestinians in its new collection campaign.
On 7th December, Zara release pictures of its latest collection showing a model in black clothes against a white backdrop with props. The backdrop bore resemblance to a ravaged structure down in rubbles.
One of the images showed a model hold a mannequin wrapped in a white cloth with rubble at the back. Another image shows a mannequin-like structure wrapped in plastic lying on the floor.
A third image shows the same mannequin, one wrapped in white cloth, as a standalone with another mannequin. Another image has been pointed out by social media users showing a prop like a piece of rubble which they allege resembles the Palestinian map.
Several pro-Palestinian users on X, including Islamists like Majid Freeman, have likened these Zara campaign images to the scenes emerging out of Gaza amid Israeli strikes on Hamas.
Islamists compared the Zara images with the bodies of the deceased wrapped in white in Gaza, with mothers holding their children wrapped in a white cloth, and damaged buildings.
Deleting the campaign from the website and across social media, the Spanish clothing brand has now issued a statement.
“After listening to comments regarding the latest Zara Atelier campaign “The Jacket”, we would like to share the following with out customers.”
The company said that the campaign “presents a series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craftmade garments in an artistic context”.
Zara stated that some customers were offended and saw in those images something far from what was intended when they were created.
“Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have not been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created,” it stated.
It concluded by saying that it regrets the misunderstanding. “We reaffirm our deep respect towards everyone,” the brand stated.
On 10th December, a page called Palestine Online shared a video of a Palestinian alleging that Zara is making fun of their people and fun of their children being killed.
A video of another user is going viral where she can be heard calling for boycott of the fashion brand.
Radical, terrorism supporting Islamists like Majid Freeman have also waded in to capitalise on the boycott trend calling the Zara collection as the “Gaza genocide collection”.
Amidst the boycott, an old controversy linked to Zara’s Israeli head designer resurfaced. In June 2021, the brand’s head women’s designer Vanessa Perilman in a private chat with a pro-Palestinian model lashed out at Hamas.
The screenshot of her message, which was made viral by the pro-Palestine model Qaher Harhash, read, “Maybe if your people were educated then they wouldn’t blow up the hospitals and schools that Israel helped to pay for in Gaza.”
Her message further read, “Israelis don’t teach children to hate or throw stones at soldiers as your people do.”
In a stark reality check to the model, she wrote, “I think it’s funny that you are a model because, in reality, that is against what the Muslim faith believes in and if you were to come out of the closet in any Muslim country, you would be stoned to death.”
The model continued to share more screenshots of Perilman’s messages even as she received death threats against her children.
