You would think that intentionally mocking the plight of Palestinians would be PR suicide for any major retailer out there, but that’s exactly what Zara have been accused of after running their most recent campaign, which features the following images:

Now you might say that these campaigns are planned and shot months in advance, but they still need to be OK’d and signed off by a whole bunch of upper management before they see the light of day, so you would think someone may have had the sense to cancel the campaign in anticipation of the guaranteed backlash it would receive.

Which, of course, was plentiful, with people sharing side-by-side comparisons of the Zara campaign with traumatic images from Gaza:

Don’t tell me this is a coincidence @ZARA pic.twitter.com/RcSaHpSgSB

— Abu Hafsah (@AbuHafsah1) December 10, 2023

And also pointing out the tear in the wall looks conspicuously similar in shape to the Gaza strip:

It also doesn’t look particularly great for the brand that the head designer for their women’s department, Vanessa Perilman, has been vocally pro-Israel and anti-Palestine in the past, getting into an online argument with model Qaher Harhash in 2021, where she wrote the following in an Instagram DM.

“Maybe if your people were educated then they wouldn’t blow up the hospitals and schools that Israel helped to pay for in Gaza.

“The people in my industry know the truth about Israel and palestine and I will NEVER stop defending Israel and people like you come and go in the end. Israelis don’t teach children to hate nor throw stones at soldiers as your people do.”

Unsurprisingly, Zara has today apologised over the whole sorry mess and confirmed they are pulling the campaign, which the retailer insists was ‘created with the sole purpose of showcasing craft made garments in an artistic context’.

Zara wrote in a statement: ‘Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw them in something far from what was intended when they were created. Zara regrets that misunderstanding and we reaffirm our deep respect towards everyone.’

It’s very much a case of ‘apology not accepted’ by the internet activists at the moment, and Zara has been added to the online sh1list alongside other major brands who are accused of supporting Israel’s war on Palestine; like McDonald’s, Burger King, Domino’s Pizza and Nike.

For the woman who sued Zara after being sold a dress that had a dead mouse stitched into it (!), click HERE.