Fast-fashion retailer Zara was in the center of an uproar after releasing a new campaign on social media. Some people felt that the imagery depicted, which included mannequins wrapped in white cloth and what resembled rubble, a mockery of the death that's happening in Gaza from the war.
Spanish fast fashion brand Zara is facing a boycott for its latest advertising campaign, which features a model standing amid rubble, posing with what looks like a body wrapped in a shroud. The images – created to sell clothes – feel uncomfortably close to the real-life tragedy unfolding in Gaza.
Earlier in December, Spanish clothing retailer Zara pulled an advert and apologised after claims it made reference to the conflict in the Middle East. In the now deleted post, the retailer shared pictures of a model surrounded by rubble, wearing a black studded leather jacket on Instagram.
Criticism surfaced online, with allegations that one picture from Zara's promotional images depicted a model holding a wrapped-up mannequin resembled the scene of a Gaza citizen carrying their dead child.
Zara is known for its fast fashion business model, where it quickly produces and releases new collections based on the latest trends. This appeals to customers who want to stay up-to-date with the latest fashion without spending a lot of money.
What's more, after the pandemic online net sales continued to grow. This rise slowed slightly in 2022, but sales are expected to accelerate again by 2023 and 2024, reaching revenues of US$57.5 billion and US$60.3 billion, respectively.
Amancio Ortega, the 86-year-old Spanish founder of clothing retailer Zara, is worth around $54 billion. Ortega owns 59% of Inditex, the world's largest clothing retailer. Besides Zara, he owns Pull&Bear, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Stradivarius, among others.
A day after deleting images criticised for evoking Gaza war imagery, international clothing chain Zara has posted an apology on social media. The company's social media sites had been flooded with criticism and calls for a boycott of the brand about a week after the launch of a campaign for a collection of jackets.
People on X (formerly Twitter) started using the hashtag "#BoycottZara" on Monday, and over 100,000 comments appeared on Zara's Instagram posts. Users criticised the ads, saying they looked like pictures of bodies in white shrouds at mass graves in Gaza.
Spanish retail giant Zara is facing backlash over its latest advertisement campaign that pro-Palestinian activists say had a striking resemblance to scenes coming out of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. What happened: The controversial ad campaign was released Dec.
The black color in the Zara logo symbolizes the style, elegance, supremacy and brilliance of the brand's luxury and advertising popular products. They use a monochrome palette with the letters in the font style, elongated sheriff of bold letters.
The advertisement campaign featured mannequins that were missing limbs and statues wrapped in a white shroud. Some activists said the photographs resembled images from Israel's assault on Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians have been killed and thousands of others wounded.
What does Zara do with the clothes they don't sell?
Zara, like many fashion retailers, typically disposes of unsold products through various methods. They may donate some items to charities, recycle or repurpose materials, or in some cases, incinerate or send products to landfills.
Protesters outside two Zara stores chanted “while you're shopping, bombs are dropping” and “Zara, Zara, you can't hide, stop supporting genocide” referring to Israel's retaliatory campaign, which has killed more than 20,000 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry, most of them women and children.
At the Oxford Street protest a branch of Zara brought its security shutters down as activists put stickers on its store windows which said: “This brand supports genocide”. Two of the chain's central London stores had to lock their doors because of the demonstration, at which people were heard shouting “Shut Zara down”.
Over the past few years, Zara has had numerous allegations filed against them for their forced labour and 'slave labour' conditions in its factories across countries such as Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Myanmar.
Earlier this month, Zara pulled an ad following complaints that it contained pictures resembling images from the Israel-Hamas war. The campaign, called The Jacket, contained a series of images in which the model was pictured against a background of cracked stones, damaged statues and broken plasterboard.
McDonald's has missed sales targets partly due to boycotts against its products in some parts of the world over its perceived support for Israel, the company says. The war on Gaza “meaningfully impacted” performance in the last quarter of 2023 in some regions, company officials said on Monday.
Airstrikes and fighting will continue to have devastating impact on civilians. Israel's offensive has killed over 26,000 Palestinians. Over 10,000 were children. Some 1.7 million Palestinians, nearly 80% of the population, are estimated to be internally displaced – with many having been displaced multiple times.
Spanish retailer Zara has apologized and pulled a recent campaign after some online compared its content to images of grieving civilians in Gaza, which have been circulated online since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7.
Zara said that the campaign, advertising its Atelier line was "conceived in July and photographed in September". Britain's Advertising Standards Authority said it received 110 complaints about the Zara campaign saying the imagery referenced the war in Gaza and was offensive.
In making the experience of the brand meaningful and the product appealing, Zara draws on the ability of its consumers to evangelize the company. Instead of carrying out ads, Zara recruits consumers, cultivates them as brand influencers to boost operations, services and goods and encourages them to spread the word.
Who Owns Zara. Zara is owned by Industria de Diseño Textil, S.A. (Inditex), a Spanish multinational clothing company that has its headquarters in Arteixo, Galicia, in Spain. Inditex is the largest fast-fashion group in the world, with a market capitalization of $73.7 billion in 2020.
Amancio Ortega's fortune in 2021 is estimated to be around 73.1 billion euros. He has been considered for years as one of the five richest men in the world, although currently he has been left out of the top 10 billionaires worldwide. He is currently the largest shareholder of Inditex, with almost 60%.
