Several women influencers from Russia are tearing apart their costly Chanel bags to protest against the company's move that bars them from making new purchases.
(Photo: Altered by The Quint)
Several women influencers from Russia are tearing apart their costly Chanel bags to protest against the company's move that bars them from making new purchases.
Model Victoria Bonya, who has 9.3 million followers on Instagram, was among the women who cut their Chanel bags into pieces and posted a video of the act on the photo and video sharing platform.
"If Chanel House does not respect its clients, why do we have to respect it," Bonya said before cutting her black coloured Chanel bag with scissors and throwing it aside.
"Never seen any brand acting so disrespectful towards their clients as Chanel," she wrote in the caption.
Stating that she was against a brand that supported 'Russophobia,' television presenter Marina Ermoshkina too cut her Chanel bag, and posted a video of the same to her nearly 300,000 followers.
She said that when Russians bought things from Chanel store, they were asked to sign a "humiliating paper" that asked them to assure that they would never wear the brand in Russia.
She further said that "Chanel is just an accessory. An accessory that at some point decided to humiliate people, my compatriots, decided to discriminate people on the basis of nationality, which I will not tolerate. After all, the main thing is principles, and not what is in your hands, but what is inside you. If you need to sell the Motherland for Chanel, then I don’t need Chanel."
Ermoshkina also urged other women and young girls to take up the Challenge of cutting apart their Chanel bags or products to call out the company for its "humiliating" move.
While several Instagram users supported the women and were sympathetic towards them, many also critiqued them for being insensitive towards the scores of Ukrianians who have been rendered homeless due to Russia's invasion to their country and about the loss of thousands of lives in Ukraine.
"Respect you? May be you should comment on the atrocities and war crimes in Ukraine instead of acting like a victim," a user said, replying to Bonya's video.
As per the Independent, Chanel's move is in line with the European Union's sanctions that ban the export of luxury goods worth more than $328 to Russia.
Chanel has since acknowledged that its decision has caused disappointment and has assured to introduce improvements.
(With inputs from Independent.)
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