Ad Campaign Against Fast Fashion Viral as Protest Over Zara's Photoshoot

The images were falsely linked to Zara's alleged 'Gaza-themed' photoshoot that drew massive criticism.

Fact-Check: This video is not related to Zara's new advertisement.

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

A video showing a pile of clothes on a street in New York City is viral on social media.

What is the claim?: Users have claimed that Americans 'threw' their Zara clothes in protest against the brand's new advertisement showing similarities with the destruction in Gaza.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

(Archives of similar claims can be found here, here and here.)

Is it true?: This claim is false.

• This video shows a luxury 'resale' website, Vestiaire Collective's campaign for banning fast fashion brands.

How did we find out?: We divided the video into multiple keyframes and came across the same video on Instagram by a page called, 'Vestiaire Collective', posted on 16 November.

• Vestiaire Collective is a luxury 'pre-loved and re-sale' online store.

• Below are the similarities between the two videos.

Here are the similarities between the two videos. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

• It was uploaded with a caption that mentioned the brand's Fast Fashion ban. This is the second year of the brand's initiative to limit fast fashion.

• This year, the brand announced that they will be banning fast fashion giants such as Zara, H&M, Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Mango, Urban Outfitters, and Uniqlo.

• The caption also mentioned Zara's controversial campaign and urged customers to be, "more thoughtful about their purchases."

• Monthly fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar reported on 17 November about Vestiaire's campaign against fast fashion.

• It quoted the website's chief impact officer, Dounia Wone who expressed concern over "excessive production and consumption, resulting in devastating social and environmental consequences in the Global South."

• Further details about the ad campaign was found on the website of 'Marketing Interactive', which mentioned that the campaign was "leveraging on AI technology" to show piles of clothes in recognisable locations.

Zara "The Jacket" Advertisement Campaign: Zara has come under fire for their campaign, ' The Jacket', part of their Atelier series.

• The Quint wrote that the model could be seen standing among the rubble, with a mannequin wrapped in white cloth over her shoulders. The pictures also showed a "pine box similar to a Muslim coffin, and some other mannequins with missing limbs."

• Social media users drew similarities between the destruction in Palestine and the brand's campaign.

• Subsequently, Palestine supporters called to boycott Zara, expressing their disappointment.

• Zara removed all content featuring inappropriate images from its social media accounts.

Zara's Statement: Taking to their official Instagram account, Zara wrote that the campaign was ideated in July and photographed in September.

• The images present images of "unfinished sculptures in a sculptor's studio and were created with the sole purpose of showing craft-made garments in an artistic context."

• They apologised for offending customers but noted that the images were not presented in the context that has been majorly perceived.

Conclusion: It is clear that the viral video is not related to Zara's controversial campaign. It shows Vestiaire Collective's fast fashion ban campaign.

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