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After Balenciaga's fiasco, Harry Styles and Gucci's recent collaboration is now being heavily criticized online for an ad campaign that features him posing in a teddy bear T-shirt and standing next to a toddler mattress.
In the problematic pictures shared by Gucci's social media handles a week back, the As it Was singer is seen wearing a T-shirt featuring an angry teddy bear, with a few lines from his 2019 hit song, Watermelon Sugar. The lines on the T-shirt read as:
“I want more berries and that summer feeling.”
Ironically, both Gucci and Balenciaga are owned by the Kering Group, a French powerhouse fashion conglomerate, and this has brought the luxury house into deep waters.
However, the latest collection and the campaign idea of using a kids’ mattress did not seem to please netizens, as several took to Twitter to express their displeasure.
“Coincidence or are they laughing in our face?”: Netizens slam Gucci and Harry Styles for problematic pictures
As photos of Gucci's HA HA HA campaign featuring Harry Styles arrived just a few weeks after Balenciaga’s recent controversial campaign, social media users started relating the two brands.
Both luxury brands are owned by the same conglomerate and parent company, Kering, and their campaigns include problematic content related to kids.
For the unaversed, Balenciaga's controversial campaign featured kids holding teddy bears wearing b*ndage gear, which instantly received massive hatred from netizens.
Slamming Gucci and the What Makes You Beautiful singer, a social media user described the whole scandal as a “coincidence.”
People did not even spare Styles, as many questioned him as to why he agreed to feature for the brand and shoot a campaign as problematic as this. Many also called the singer “weak,” and “desperately clueless.”
The Gucci HA HA HA bear T-shirt retails for $750: More details about it explored
The campaign, which was shot in November 2022, was conceptualized under creative director Alessandro Michele, who has since left his role. Furthermore, talking about how their HAHA HA campaign features the Watermelon Sugar singer, Gucci wrote on their website:
“Arising from the friendship between him and creative director Alessandro Michele, play is at the very heart of the collection, which uses menswear as a tool of the avant-garde.”
The T-shirt retails for $750, and the brand describes the T-shirt as:
"Crafted from cotton jersey, this T-shirt depicts the emblematic HA HA HA bear print together with lyrics from 'Watermelon Sugar' on the front, and a Gucci print on the back."
Gucci also clarified that the pictures were captured by Mark Borthwick. Furthermore, talking about how the images showcase a “dream wardrobe,” Gucci claimed:
“The series of images sees Harry Styles showcase the ‘dream wardrobe’ defined by the eccentric use of romantic accents, whimsical prints, vintage details, and the expressive emotionality of the individual.”
Neither Harry Styles, Gucci, nor any other spokesperson has addressed the now controversial matter yet as of writing this article.
