Charles & Keith features bullied teenager as face of IWD ad campaign

Charles & Keith is featuring teenager Zoe Gabriel on its IWD ad campaign. Gabriel made headlines after being bullied online in January this year for calling the brand’s bag a “luxury” item.

The teen posted a photo of her posing with a purple Alia bag ($75.90) and wrote: “Women are like flowers: Our time and needs to grow may not always align, but that is okay. We are like fields of poppy and lakes of lotus – diverse and bold in our differences, beautiful in our own ways.”

Joining Gabriel on the campaign are members of the company’s in-house staff members. According to a release from the brand, it launched a purple edition of its handbag styles to support women's rights through UN Women's "Storytelling for Gender Equality" programme. 

“With the concerted efforts around International Women’s Day, Charles & Keith hopes to create meaningful conversations, raise awareness on discrimination, and take steps towards building a fair and equal society,” said the brand.

In celebration of the 2023 theme “Embrace Equity”, Charles & Keith is also supporting the rights of women and girls through UN Women’s "Storytelling for Gender Equality" programme with the launch of a purple edition of one of its handbag styles — The Alia. 20% of all proceeds from this special iteration of the bag will go towards funding the programme.

Meanwhile, following the incident, YouGov released data showing that Charles & Keith’s brand health metrics had risen significantly as the founders invited Gabriel to their offices to meet them. In terms of media and communication metrics, net buzz scores, which measure whether consumers have heard more positive or negative things about a brand in the past two weeks, soared by 19.7 points. It shot up drastically from 7.9 on 8 January to 27.6 by 16 January, according to the release.  Buzz scores were based on the following question: “Over the past two weeks, which of the following brands have you heard something positive/negative about (whether in the news, through advertising, or talking to friends and family)?" 

Meanwhile, the brand’s word of mouth (WOM) exposure, which tracks the percentage of consumers who are talking about a brand in the past two weeks, also rose by 12.3 points – from 8.4 on 8 January to 20.7 by 16 January – indicating that consumers were not just reading about the incident but also talking about it, according to YouGov BrandIndex. WOM Exposure scores were based on the following question: “Which of the following brands have you talked about with friends and family in the past two weeks (whether in person, online or through social media)?”

The 17-year-old, Gabriel, had initially posted a video on the social media platform thanking her father for gifting her first luxury bag from Charles & Keith, but was later mocked online by some users who insisted that Charles & Keith is not a luxury brand and that the bag was inexpensive.

The backlash prompted Gabriel to post a second video where she tearfully explained that her family did not have much while she was growing up. This prompted the fashion brand to release a statement praising Gabriel for her graceful response and invited the teen and her father to visit their headquarters to have lunch with one of their founders. The brand later sent Gabriel two bags, a black Charlot bag as well as a personalised Gabine leather saddle bag.

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