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By Shannon Power
Pop Culture & Entertainment Reporter
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A protester has vandalized a Balenciaga store in central London amid controversy surrounding the label.
Street artist Joe Bloggs—The Average Man on the Street—plastered the words "paedophilia"—using the British spelling of the word—on the window of a store in central London. Bloggs told Newsweek he used a vinyl decal to deface the store on New Bond Street, as part of his "Luxury Vandalism" campaign.
The word appeared three times in black underneath two back-to-back letter 'Ps.'
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"I did it due to the abhorrent photoshoots Balenciaga did and their associations with various... people including Lotta Volkova," he told Newsweek.
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TikTok user IvoryFlourCakes caught Bloggs in action and posted a video of them stenciling the window to their account.
"POV: you're walking through central London enjoying the lights and see Balenciaga getting canceled," they captioned their video.
The protester also appeared to be wearing a yellow hi-visibility vest with the words 'JC Defaux' on the back. 'Faux' means fake in French and appears to be an imitation of outdoor marketing company, JCDecaux.
Balenciaga has faced a wave of backlash and has been accused of "child pornography" by social media users after two recent campaigns.
The first campaign for its "Balenciaga Objects" line showed young children holding the brand's teddy bear bags, but one of the teddies was dressed in BDSM gear including studded collars, harnesses and fishnets.
Another photoshoot for its collaboration with Adidas featured an hourglass bag on top of a pile of papers.
One of the papers was a sheet from the 2008 Supreme Court ruling United States v. Williams.
The Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether 2003 federal laws which criminalized the advertising, promoting, presenting or distributing child pornography, actually curtailed First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.
The Court ruled to uphold the 2003 laws.
Balenciaga released a statement when the controversy first started and then issued another one to its Instagram stories on Monday.
"We would like to address the controversies surrounding our recent ad campaigns," it began.
"We strongly condemn child abuse; it was never our intent to include it in our narrative.
"The two separate ad campaigns in question reflect a series of grievous errors for which Balenciaga takes responsibility.
"The first campaign, the gift collection campaign, featured children with plush bear bags dressed in what some have labeled BDSM-inspired outfits. Our plush bear bags and the gift collection should not have been featured with children. This was a wrong choice by Balenciaga, combined with our failure in assessing and validating images. The responsibility for this lies with Balenciaga alone."
The statement continued: "The second, separate campaign for spring 2023, which was meant to replicate a business office environment, included a photo with a page in the background from a Supreme Court ruling 'United States V. Williams' 2008 which confirms as illegal and not protected by freedom of speech the promotion of child pornography.
"All the items included in this shooting were provided by third parties that confirmed in writing that these props were fake office documents. They turned out to be [real] papers most likely coming from the filming of a television drama. The inclusion of these unapproved documents was the result of reckless negligence for which Balenciaga has filed a complaint."
The statement continued that the brand took "full accountability for our lack of oversight and control of the documents in the background and we could have done things differently."
It also said that "internal and external investigations are ongoing" while creating stronger protocols within its creative processes and "validation steps."
The fashion label continued: "We are laying the groundwork with organizations who specialize in child protection [and aim] at ending child abuse and exploitation. We want to learn from our mistakes and identify ways we can contribute.
"Balenciaga reiterates its sincere apologies for the offense we have caused and extends its apologies to talents and partners."
Newsweek has reached out to Balenciaga for comment.
Update 11/30/22, 2:36 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include quotes from the street artist.
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