The clothing brand Zara mocked grieving Palestinian mothers

Question

Tweet claims that the brand Zara released a campaign mocking Palestinian mothers. Tweet also claims the brand Zara is being boycotted.

Answer 1

The claim that Zara released a campaign to mock Palestinian mothers is false. It is essentially a poorly timed campaign by Zara and is just insensitive to the current events going on in the world. Various news sources reported on the campaign and Zara’s statement following the backlash. The New York Times, Fox Business, Forbes, The Guardian and TIME all had stories on the campaign. They all reported on Zara’s statement which announced them pulling the campaign due to customer feedback and criticism. Zara’s statement can be found on their Instagram and says that the campaign was created in July and photographed in September, which was before the attack by Hamas. Zara said the campaign had “the sole purpose of showcasing craftmade garments in an artistic context” (Zara). The full statement can be found here. This is also not the first time Zara has faced some criticism around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The TIME reported that in 2022, “a franchise owner of Zara stores in Israel hosted a campaign event for the right wing Israeli politician Itmar Ben-Gvir in his home” (TIME). Additionally, in 2021, Zara’s head designer, Vanessa Perilman, sent a heated DM message to a Palestinian model, Qaher Harhash. So, the company does not have the best track record when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but this claim is still false and simply a misunderstanding. 

The account who posted this claim is @missfalasteenia, whose page is dedicated to pro-Palestine content. They repost a lot of images/videos as well as their own posts supporting Palestine and urging the stop of the attack on Gaza. They have 83.4k followers. There is no way to tell who this person is and their expertise or credibility on the topic. They obviously are trying to promote pro-Palestine content and expose people to what is going on. But they may be misleading people on the true facts of certain posts, like this one about Zara’s campaign. 

@missfalasteenia’s Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/missfalsteenia?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor 

Zara’s Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0vxGLVu9Vt/ 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/business/zara-campaign-israel-gaza-war.html#:~:text=Israeli%20Soldiers%27%20Videos-,Zara%20Removes%20Campaign%20After%20Critics%20Call%20It%20Insensitive%20to%20Israel,campaign%20before%20the%20war%20began. 

https://time.com/6347768/zara-pulls-controversial-ad-boycott-gaza/ 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/12/11/zara-pulls-ads-after-allegations-of-anti-palestinian-images-go-viral/?sh=5dd6c752791c 

Comments

This is a really strong fact check. It pulls from multiple credible sources and cross checks all of them in order to thoroughly address every angle of the claim. The research is correctly identified as an unfortunately timed coincidence.

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You did a really good job with referencing your sources. I was able to see what was going on with all of your sources. I am able to see both sides and felt like I could come to my own conclusion with the sources you provided.

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This is a great fact check. You gave the context of the claim and summarized the issues perfectly. It was easy to read and gave people the correct information. This fact check effectively helps end the spread of misinformation. I appreciate that you included multiple links to your evidence and quotes from reputable sources such as TIME. Great Job!

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This fact check was excellent. You offered campaign-related articles that demonstrated the lack of connection to political developments. You also did a fantastic job of identifying the user who posted the tweet. Thank you for stating that they support Palestine, as this motivates them to disseminate their story throughout the media.

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Great job on your response! It was extremely thorough, well-written and well-researched. It was easy to rely on your response to be a credible fact check based on the clarification and the multiple sources you included.

Answer 2

The claim that the brand Zara released a campaign mocking Palestinian mothers is misleading as that was not the intention of the brand. However, the fact the brand Zara is being boycotted is true. On Dec. 7th Zara released a photoshoot for their new collection. The  campaign was started in July and the photoshoot took place in September, months before the Israel and Hamas war. The campaign aimed to resemble men's tailoring from past centuries, however the mannequins wrapped in white cloth resembled corpses in white shroud in Gaza. Due to this Zara was accused of making the campaign to intentionally mock those lost their lives in Gaza. In a statement from Zara they deny this claim saying that it was never their intent and that the campaign had been created months before the war. Although there is evidence of the head designer at Zara sending hate messages to a Palestinian model. However, critics either angered by the insensitivity or by the belief that this campaign was intentional have called to boycott the brand. If you simply go through their comments you can see pro Palestine comments as well as comments calling for a boycott. Others have taken a more physical approach such as holding a protests in stores according to the New York Times. This claim is both false and true.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/business/zara-campaign-israel-gaza-war.html#:~:text=Israeli%20Soldiers%27%20Videos-,Zara%20Removes%20Campaign%20After%20Critics%20Call%20It%20Insensitive%20to%20Israel,campaign%20before%20the%20war%20began 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0vxGLVu9Vt/

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/zara-pulls-advert-website-front-page-after-gaza-boycott-calls-2023-12-11/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQHkHJZDSRT/?img_index=2

Comments

Great fact-check! The claim that Zara is mocking Palestinian mothers with their campaign is false, although there was a call to action by others to boycott them for the similarity of clothing in their campaign and those worn by Palestinians.

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This was a great fact-check! The claim that Zara is mocking Palestinian mothers with their campaign is indeed false. You did a great job of thoroughly researching and getting to the bottom of this claim. I have no notes, great job!

Answer 3

With this claim stating that Zara released this campaign intending to do harm and effect those who are victims of the war is false; yet the boycotting of the fast fashion brand is well in order by social media users and consumers. While Forbes has been in contact with the owners of the brand and made clear how the pictures of their new products - and how they're modeled - were taken months before the fateful event that caused all this death and destruction, the brand is still facing backlash and boycotting for the untimely and controversial push of this campaign at the most inappropriate and harmful time(https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12849919/Zara-boycott-calls-pro-Palestinian-activists-accuse-mocking-deaths-Gaza-advertising-campaign.html). While it wasn't the brand's intention, there were innumerable amount of negative responses and hurtful expressions that caused the brand to take down most of their post from the campaign on most of their sites. With this series of events, it made Zara seem insensitive to what was going on and thus their consumers and media audience have pushed for a boycott of the brand. 

Comments

I found the same answers when doing my own research on this campaign. There was a lot of miscommunication and the photos posted were very misleading. Although these photos were posted at a very unfortunate and inappropriate time, taking a look at when the campaign was planned and the photos were taken, it was not intentional.

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Do you think Daily Mail UK is the best source on the Internet on this topic? From what I can tell, there are plenty of stronger sources on this that would strengthen your fact-check.

Answer 4

The claim that Zara created a campaign to directly mock grieving mothers in Palestine is false. I checked the New York Times' official website and found an article titled "Zara Removes Campaign After Critics Call It Insensitive to Israel-Hamas War". This article stated that this advertisement was designed nearly a year before the Isreal-Gaza war actually started. The Guardian also covered the same story, quoting Zara as saying "Unfortunately, some customers felt offended by these images, which have now been removed, and saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created". It is clear to see how this advertisement might have been misinterpreted, but after looking at timelines and reading the statement put out by Zara, it is clear that this was unintentional.  

Comments

This is a great fact-check! I agree with the conclusion you came to about the claim. You used a reliable and helpful source to come to the conclusion, but in future you should also include the links to articles that you mention.

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I really enjoyed reading your fact-check! You did a great job of explaining how this claim is false and that this campaign was shot a year before the conflict began. However, one thing that would really help you is explaining where you got these sources!

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I like that you used multiple sources and even quoted one to provide back up for your claim! Actually including a quote from an article is really helpful when reading fact check since I can see how the article pertains to the claim. However, you didn't link either of your sources. Including the links to the articles will improve your fact check.

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I think this is a well-written and unbiased fact check that accurately recounts the situation. Using a direct quote was especially helpful, and made the fact check seem a lot more credible; I think you should have linked your sources, but the fact check itself still seems credible.

Answer 5

The claim is from a Tweet, which is not a reliable source. It is definitely misleading. Zara did not release a campaign in order to mock Palestinian mothers. In a New York Times article, it is expressed that the intention of the campaign was artistic and not political. The campaign was released with very bad timing, but it is mostly coincidence. Zara released a statement on their Instagram following the backlash. Fashion and art campaigns like this one are conceived much earlier than they are released, and it is entirely possible that the campaign began production before the Israeli/Palestine conflict reached the American public.

Comments

This is a really good factcheck on this topic. I think you are correct by claiming that it is exaggerated and misleading. Since the campaign was truly released by Zara, just not with ill intent. Referring to the New York times article is also a strong component of this fact check.

Answer 6

the claim that the brand Zara released an ad mocking Palestinian mothers is not true. The claim was reported on by multiple trust worthy sources including The New York Times and Forbes, both who concluded the as was just poorly timed and had no ill intent. The original claim came from twitter user @missfalasteenia, a account who is dedicated to posting issues around the Palestinian war. So there is a bias issue surrounding this account. Zara did ultimately pull the campaign, amid the backlash they were recieving, as reported by the articles. They also released a statement regretting the content in the articles. The authors of these articles are credible, and have other articles that prove their credibility.

sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/12/12/zara-regrets-misunderstanding-over-controversial-ad-campaign-accused-of-mocking-gaza-deaths/?sh=38cfc24b1258

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/12/business/zara-campaign-israel-gaza-war.html

Answer 7

After reverse image searching the photograph of the Zara campaign posted on this X account, I have come to the conclusion that this claim is false. Unfortunately, it was just coincidentally published at the same time as similar-appearing photographs from the Israel-Gaza conflict. In a statement, "Zara said the campaign, which also featured mannequins with missing limbs, had been conceived in July and photographed in September, before the conflict erupted in October, and was meant to show unfinished sculptures in a sculptor’s studio" (TheGuardian.com).

The account that posted this claim has a following of 86.1K users for its Palestinian-based content. Some of their tweets are based on extremist ideals or unresearched claims. The amount of power held by this account means that it holds a duty to spread valuable and correct information. That did not happen with this statement.

https://x.com/missfalsteenia/status/1755032238410928243?s=20

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/dec/12/zara-pulls-uk-ad-campaign-images-gaza