Zara Speaks Out Over Jacket Campaign as Boycott Calls Grow

Spanish retail giant Zara has broken its silence after facing calls for a boycott over an ad campaign some deemed offensive.

Zara faced backlash after some people slammed its Atelier 2024 campaign called "The Jacket," as "Gaza-war inspired," deeming it insensitive to people there.

It removed some of the images from its social media and eventually its website, but now has spoken out over the controversy.

Posting to social media, Zara said the campaign was "conceived in July and photographed in September," before the October 7 war between Israel and Hamas began.

Zara explained the images were meant to represent unfinished sculptures in a studio and were "created with the sole purpose of showcasing craftmade garments in an artistic context."

"Unfortunately some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created," the company wrote.

"Zara regrets that misunderstanding and we reaffirm our deep respect towards everyone."

But people were having none of Zara's messaging and slammed the label as "tone deaf."

"Once month after the campaign was shot, Israel started 'defending itself' with their genocidal blood thirst revenge. You had 2 months to come up with a new concept before releasing it or to at least go over the photos and have some team members check if it can come off as offensive to people ESPECIALLY considering your head of women's dept has made vulgar insulting statements in the past regarding this very issue!!!!!" wrote one person in the comments.

They continued: "'Unfortunately some customers felt offended'—so now, we (the customers) are to blame for our reaction towards your insensitivity ???? What were we supposed to do after 66 days of seeing dismembered bodies and then seeing this tone deaf campaign? Are we to applaud the blind creative direction??? Are we to salute the Zionist fashion designers? Is 'sorry' really out of your tiny vocabulary? I hope you lose in every way in this world. Your ignorance and lack of seeking knowledge makes you unworthy of redemption!"

Another person wrote: "This is not an apology. This is gaslighting. You have millions in budgets for shoots and logistics but your marketing team CANT READ THE 'ROOM'? Like wait, maybe we shouldn't post these because some imagery might be upsetting or controversial. It's VERY VERY straightforward and failure to do so means your team is inept at their job. You don't live under a rock! The images that these look like are ALL OVER the internet and on all platforms."

And a third added: "too late! Are you scared now? Where is your arrogance a few days ago? You think you can mocking the innocent and not getting away because you are siding with the isnt-real? And remove your post and make this super cringe announcement? It's not even an apology because you dont think what you did is wrong. Good luck with your company performance from here on out."

Around 17,700 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel began its military action following Hamas' surprise attack which killed about 1,200 people in Israel, the Associated Press reported.

The ad campaign controversy was not the first time Zara has been in hot water over the Israel-Palestine issue.

In 2021, Zara faced calls for a boycott after one of its head designers had sent a Palestinian model an anti-Palestinian message via DM on Instagram.

Model Qaher Harhash said Vanessa Perilman had sent him a private message slamming his posts about Palestine.

He later claimed she apologized privately, but only after realizing the risk to her career and family. Harhash also claimed Zara wanted him to make Perilman's apology public, but he refused.

"If Zara wants to make a statement with me, they also need to address Islamophobia. When certain fashion designers said anti-Semitic things, they were fired from their jobs," he wrote on Instagram.

"So far, Vanessa Perilman hasn't been fired."

Harhash added: "For me an apology means to fully acknowledge the pain or suffering you caused someone. She came into my DM's wrote hateful comments, why should I accept a half assed apology?"

Then in 2022, Zara Israel faced criticism after the owner of its Israeli franchise hosted the country's hardline right-wing national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, at a campaign event.

Joey Schwebel, a Canadian-Israeli dual national and chairman of Zara Israel, hosted Ben Gvir at his home in Ra'anana, about 13 miles north of Tel Aviv according to the Times of Israel.

When the meeting was revealed, Palestinians were seen burning Zara clothes and calling for a boycott.

Ben Gvir is the head of the far-right nationalist party Otzma Yehudit, which translates to Jewish Power. He has been indicted 53 times for violations that included racial incitement, violent acts and supporting a terrorist organization. He was also convicted of eight criminal offenses that included such violations.

Update 12/12/23, 5:26 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include additional information.