Spanish fashion chain Zara is facing calls for a boycott after its latest campaign drew criticism for being insensitive to the situation unfolding in Gaza, where at least 17,000 people have been killed.
One image used to promote a new jacket in its Atelier line shows model Kristen McMenamy carrying a mannequin wrapped in white cloth. In another photo, she’s seen standing inside a wooden box.
The fast fashion retailer posted the images for the campaign on social media on Dec 8. Some images have since been removed from its posts.
Online commenters have pointed out that the imagery used is similar to the increasingly familiar images that show up on news feeds showing how the dead in Gaza are shrouded in white cloth.
Reactions have included anger, shock and numerous calls for a boycott.
One commenter on X who goes by the handle @AnamSalem wrote that this was a “new low” and “our pain isn’t for sale”.
Another X user, @noor_a25, placed one of the images in the campaign side by side with a widely seen image of a Gaza woman cradling the body of a child shrouded in white, in her arms.
Another commenter on X, @writernextdoor_, wrote: “Our suffering is not your aesthetic. Our dying children are not your source of inspiration. Have some shame. Some humanity.”
Zara has not issued a public statement on this controversy.