A Zara advert featuring mannequins with missing limbs and statues wrapped in white has been removed from its website and social media after pro-Palestinian activists called for a boycott of the fashion brand.
Critics said the advertising campaign resembled photos of corpses in white shrouds in Gaza.
On Tuesday, Zara expressed regret for the “misunderstanding” and deleted six photos promoting the campaign from its Instagram page.
“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 said in a post on its Instagram account.
Inditex, the owner of Zara, stated that the campaign was conceived in July and the photos were taken in September, prior to Hamas’s attack on October 7th and the Israeli strikes on Gaza that followed.
Zara’s Instagram account received an influx of tens of thousands of comments about the photos, many featuring Palestinian flags, and #BoycottZara was trending on X.
In one of the photos, a model is seen carrying a mannequin wrapped in white, while another features a bust lying on the floor and another showcases a mannequin without arms.
The images depict an artist studio with ladders, packing materials, wooden crates, cranes, and assistants wearing overalls.
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The photos of the Atelier collection, which were featured on Zara’s online store homepage on Monday morning, are no longer visible on the website or on its app as of Monday lunchtime.
A link on the UK website that led to Zara Atelier now displays last year’s collection.
Zara stated during the collection’s launch on December 7th that it drew inspiration from men’s tailoring from past centuries.