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.
In the wake of the war in Ukraine, the French luxury brand has decided to not sell its products to people who intend to use them in Russia. Besides, Chanel has also closed all its stores in the country.
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 Doesn't Respect Clients, Why Should We Respect It'
"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.
Expressing her disappointment and anger over the move, she said that for Russian girls, "the presence of Chanel in our lives does not play any role". "It was we who have always been the face of this brand, it was we who, from childhood, set the goal of buying a bag of this brand. But not a single bag, not a single thing is worth my love for my Motherland, is not worth my respect for myself, I am against Russophobia, I am against a brand that supports Russophobia," she wrote in Russian the caption of her Instagram video.
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.
DJ Katya Guseva followed suit. "I always dreamed that a Chanel handbag would appear in my wardrobe and it happened last year. But after I learned about the brand's policy towards Russians, I decided to remove these bags from my daily life until the situation changes." Guseva, who has 587,000 followers, further asked people to follow the challenge.
Netizens Call Out the Women For Being Insensitive Against Ukrainians
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.
Commenting on the development, a Twitter user wrote, "An idea for these instagram bloggers: if you are bent on getting rid of Chanel bags, why don't you sell them and donate the money to a Ukrainian charity of choice? Who knows, maybe there'd be less russophobia, if you showed you had an ounce of humanity left in you.(sic)"
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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