The Bachelor season 22 lead, Arie Luyendyk Jr., and his wife, Lauren Burnham, lit their Balenciaga sneakers on fire after the brand released two controversial holiday ad campaigns featuring children. Arie and Lauren met in 2018 while filming, and despite their rocky beginningsm The couple got married in 2019 and have since had three children—Alessi, three, and fraternal twins, Senna and Lux, one.
Recently, SpongeBob SquarePants, shows the couple in their closet grabbing a pair of beige Balenciaga shoes. The shoes are set on fire by a blowtorch and thrown in a trash can. Lauren then throws a peace sign up in the foreground of the burning bin.
Arie & Lauren's Balenciaga Protest Got From Bachelor Nation
The shoes continue to burn as they are removed from the trash with a pair of cooking tongs. The Bachelor Nation stars put the shoes on the cement as the remaining bits continue to burn. The video ends with Lauren saying, “Bye Balenciaga” and is aptly captioned “won’t miss ya.” Arie's post was met with agreement and applause in the comments. Fellow Bachelor alum, Hannah Ann commented, “And good” while other social media s replied, “Burn in hell Balenciaga” and “This is what Kim [Kardashian] should have done. Good on you guys!!!!”
While other celebrities have publicly denounced Balenciaga, including their collaborator, Kim Kardashian, many do not believe she has done enough. Kim still maintains a working relationship with the brand despite saying the images were disturbing. Bachelor Nation has started to weigh in on the controversy, as have many others in the entertainment industry. The brand’s negative press and backlash is far from over as the story continues to circulate. Balenciaga also released an apology for including children in that context and pulled the campaigns.
Balenciaga took an interesting stance regarding the campaign that included the child pornography documents. The brand claims the Supreme Court papers were placed in the image without the brand’s knowledge or approval. Balenciaga maintains that any association with child pornography was never their intention and the brand has since added new procedures to prevent any future oversight from occurring ever again. Despite the apology and alleged naivety, the public is far from ready to forgive the brand. Moreover, The Bachelor couple likely started a new social media trend when they burned their Balenciaga sneakers, one that is bound to be all over the internet.
Source: Arie Luyendyk/Instagram