Influencer bins £825 Balenciaga trainers in protest at controversial ad campaign – but everyone is saying the same thing
A SCOTS TikTok influencer has binned his £825 trainers in protest over a controversial ad campaign by the Balenciaga brand.
Mark Hamilton, 24, has amassed 621.9k followers on TikTok making his name as a tanning expert.
The social media star from Airdrie, Lanarkshire, posted the short clip to his platform to express his disgust over recent controversies over the luxury fashion brand.
Mark insisted he will never buy from the company again after adverts were released showing child models posing with bondage teddy bears.
The Spanish fashion label faces fury over its latest marketing campaign where one photo shoot shockingly revealed paperwork from a US law battle over child pornography hidden beneath a black bag.
Footage shows Mark throwing his trainers worth hundreds of pounds in the bin amid backlash over the ads, which have been compared to “Satanic sacrifice”.
He said: “Balenciaga has got to go.
“I’ve got a pair of Balenciaga trainers.
“I won’t be wearing them, going to bin them.
Running to his hallway topless, he continued: “Genuinely, my favourite pair of trainers, I wear them every day.
He holds the black trainers – worth over £800 – up to the camera before launching them into the bin.
He added: “I don’t care about the money, money comes and goes.
“If you are some one that does wear this brand, if you don’t know, look up what they have done, they are absolute shambolic.
“They were my favourite trainers and all.”
But Mark’s followers were all saying the same thing about him chucking away his favourite trainers for social media.
One said: “fishing them oot the bin after the video.”
Another: “How are Balenciaga going to recover from this one?”
A third: “And after the video the trainers will be back out that bin..”
In the wake of the controversy, the fashion designers removed all their online content on Instagram before new images were posted last week.
Balenciaga has since apologised and said the bondage bears “should not have been featured with children”.
It said: “We sincerely apologise for any offence our holiday campaign may have caused
“We have immediately removed the campaign from all platforms.”
A post on its Instagram story added: “We apologise for displaying unsettling documents in our campaign. We take this matter very seriously.
“We strongly condemn abuse of children in any form. We stand for children safety and well-being.”