To paraphrase a lyric from a Pink Floyd song: 'Hey, Balenciaga, leave them kids alone!'

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Remember when fashion shows and marketing campaigns for luxury good retailers were all about creating beautiful and positive imagery? That’s certainly not the case when it comes to Paris-based retail chain Balenciaga.

A recent marketing campaign and fashion show made use of reams of repulsive imagery, ranging from child pornography and pedophilia to Satanism.

What was Balenciaga thinking?

Indeed, is this all about “normalizing” child pornography and devil worship and pedophilia (whom some now call “inter-generational love”)?

Gross.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what Balenciaga is promoting these days is downright despicable.

Little wonder that across North America people stood outside Balenciaga stores last weekend demonstrating against this chain.

And that was the case at Toronto Premium Outlets in Milton, Ont. A small group of demonstrators stood outside the Balenciaga outlet store at this mall. They made their case by simply displaying grotesque imagery plucked from Balenciaga’s disturbing marketing campaign.

In the final analysis, one must wonder: do images of toddlers wearing BDSM-inspired clothing and/or covered in blood make people want to shop at a high-end fashion retailer? Do images of teddy bears arranged in such a way that it looks as though they are performing oral sex make consumers want to flock to Balenciaga?

And gee, where is the cancel culture woke mob when you really need it? Or when it comes to the far left, is the sexual exploitation of children now fair game? God help us all if that is indeed the case.

In the weeks and months ahead, it will be interesting to see if Balenciaga suffers any significant sales fallout from its grotesque marketing methods (or note: there were precious few customers at the Toronto Premium Outlets Balenciaga store the day we dropped by.)

After all, the ultimate goal of any marketing campaign is to move the merchandise. It would seem hard to believe that images of child torture would make one want to purchase a pair of Adidas sneakers retailing at Balenciaga for $1,490 plus taxes.

Incidentally, with outrageous prices like that, who actually shops at Balenciaga in the first place?