Boycott campaign: Zara regrets ‘misunderstanding’ by removing ad

International clothing brand Zara has apologized for the ‘misunderstanding’ by removing the controversial ad campaign from its website.

The fashion brand said in a statement on Tuesday that the company regrets the ‘misunderstanding’ over an ad campaign that featured statues wrapped in (shroud-like) white cloth.

The ad sparked calls for a boycott of the brand by supporters of Palestine, after which Zara removed the images from social media platforms.

Consumers filed thousands of complaints on Zara’s Instagram account about the ad, which they said mimicked images of white-shrouded corpses in Gaza.

After this ad, ‘Boycott Zara’ is trending on microblogging platform X.

Zara’s announcement underscores the sensitivity of global brands to Israel’s war on Gaza. Zara is the first major Western brand to take this step after criticism.

Zara said the ad, which also featured statues with limbs missing, was conceived in July and shot in September before the start of the Gaza conflict in October, aimed at a sculptor. In K’s studio, unfinished sculptures were to be displayed.

Zara added in the Instagram post: ‘Unfortunately some customers were offended by the images which have now been removed but they were not created with the vision they were seen in.’

“Zara regrets the misunderstanding and we respect everyone’s feelings,” the statement added.

Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had received 110 complaints about the Zara ad, which said the images referred to the war in Gaza and were offensive.

The ASA said in a statement: ‘As Zara has now removed this ad we will not be taking any further action.’

Six posts of the ad have been removed from Zara’s Instagram page, with parent company Inditex saying the images have also been removed from all platforms.

Zara had already removed the photo shoot from its website and app homepages on Monday.