Zara takes campaign images offline after a wave of criticism

Spanish fashion giant Zara has taken its recent campaign offline after it received strong criticism on social media. It promoted its latest collection, 'Collection 04', with pictures showing mannequins wrapped in sheets, while others appeared to be covered in plastic, wooden boxes and concrete rubble.

For many, the campaign images evoked the image of dead bodies in Israel and Palestine. On social media, people even speculated that one of the pieces of concrete was in the shape of the map of Palestine. People are therefore calling for a boycott of Zara.

On Zara's official Instagram page, the brand released a statement responding to the criticism: "The campaign, that was conceived in July and photographed in September, presents series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor's studio and was created with the sole purpose of showing artisanal clothing 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." Zara added that it regrets the misconception and reiterated it has "deep respect" for everyone. The collection will continue to be sold as normal, only the images will be taken offline.