What’s Balenciaga To Do About The Harry Potter Meme?

In a 55-second video, YouTuber demonflyingfox reimagined the Harry Potter cast of characters as Balenciaga models, poking fun at the self-important imagery and styling of the brand. The video was released about a month ago and has garnered over 6 million views.

The closing line captures the tongue-in-cheek essence of the meme, “There is no good and evil. There is only Balenciaga and those too weak to seek it. Balenciaga.”

The original video’s popularity has spawned a host of other popular films interpreted through the Balenciaga lens, including Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Breaking Bad.

Fellow Forbes.com contributor Dani Di Placido explained the meme phenomenon: “Generative AI is often used to blend clashing aesthetics together, to create the kind of images that burn in your brain, and subsequently go viral.”

Balenciaga seems ripe for the clash, having been caught up in a cultural firestorm of its own making around imagery considered over-sexualizing children in an ad campaign late year.

But appropriating the aesthetics and styling of a luxury brand to make a joke of it, even a mockery of it, seems something no luxury brand would take lying down.

Balenciaga As A Cultural Construct

Yet, Kering-owned Balenciaga isn’t any ordinary luxury brand. Under the creative leadership of Demna and guided by its CEO Cédric Charbit, Balenciaga has positioned the luxury brand as more than a creator of exquisitely styled and crafted fashion but as a cultural construct and touch point.

“Balenciaga spearheaded an ongoing process of transformation: from the original couturier’s approach, centered on fabric selection, shapes, silhouettes, tailoring, etc., into being ‘culture-centered,’” shared Alessandro Balossini Volpe, professor of business management and strategy at Istituto Marangoni and ISTUD.

“High fashion has always been a cultural expression, but today, the cultural concept is designed first, and clothes are one of the many ways this culture is expressed. No wonder that Balenciaga can resonate so easily with contemporary expressions of pop culture.”

Ironically, Balenciaga has taken a meme approach to designing fashion. Its re-imagined Ikea tote bag for $2,000+ is perhaps the best example, which Ikea took on the chin and made a joke of it. “Get the original for just $0.90,” it’s ad stated.

But now the shoe is on the other foot, and Balenciaga is the subject of the joke.

Appropriating Brand Image

Milton Pedraza, CEO of The Luxury Institute weighed in:

“I am not an attorney, but I believe that unless it gave legal consent, this is a violation of Balenciaga’s intellectual property rights, and it may have grounds for legal action.

“Otherwise, any luxury brand’s intellectual property becomes a bit like a generic Lego piece, able to be placed wherever anyone wants in the digital world. That’s not ok. It can redefine and damage your brand equity.”

Of note: a company spokesperson confirmed the company was not involved with the creation of the meme but did not provide further comment. And @demonflyingfox Twitter profile states it is not affiliated with Balenciaga.

Luxury brands are fiercely protective of their intellectual property and brand image. In 2011 Christian Louboutin sued Yves Saint Laurent for appropriating its signature red soles on a pair of shoes. A lengthy legal battle ensued with Louboutin eventually granted trademark protection over red soled shoes.

Gucci, Kering-owned sister brand of Balenciaga, sued Forever 21 for using their trademarked blue-red-blue and green-red-green stripes on its clothing and accessories, with the suit settled before trial in 2018.

And Balenciaga was on the receiving end of a trademark infringement suit brought by Car-Freshener Corporation for appropriating its protected tree-shaped air freshener tag in a keychain. That suit was settled in mediation.

The dangers are many with letting people run off with a brand’s carefully-crafted cues and clues. The brand loses control of its image and risks diluting its desirability, and it confuses people about which messages come directly and authentically from the brand and which from the fans.

“Isn’t there are risk of being perceived as not being truly excellent in what should be its core area of competence, i.e., high fashion itself?” Volpe asked.

Taking Lemons And Making Lemonade

Under Demna, Balenciaga has fearlessly walked on the cultural edge, and perhaps the brand will see the upside to having so many people introduced to the brand through characters they’ve come to love in film.

“This might be a good thing. It clearly shows that the brand is not dead, even after its recent horrific cultural misstep. Humor generated spontaneously by the audience is the highest form of cultural relevance a brand can get,” said Dr. Martin Olbert, The Meaning Expert and founder of the consultancy Meaning.Global.

“It shows a spontaneous brand rebirth done by people. It says Balenciaga is still current and people care about it,” she added.

Professor Volpe saw the positive upside too. “Brand awareness can spread at the speed of light, particularly among the volatile, scarcely loyal younger generation. The potential impact on brand image can be very strong, as brands are instantly perceived as the most advanced, forward-thinking expressions of contemporary culture.”

At the same time, if Balenciaga doesn’t do something, anything, it is dangerously close to being a here-today, gone-tomorrow fad or worse, being written off as a joke.

The dictionary definitions of the word mockery are anything but nice: “Insulting or contemptuous action or speech; subject of laughter, derision or sport; a counterfeit appearance; an insincere, contemptible or impertinent imitation; something ridiculously or imprudently unsuitable.”

Luxury brands, at their core, have to be aspirational, so Dr. Olbert calls on Balenciaga to use the Harry Potter meme as inspiration for its own campaign to celebrate, rather than denigrate the brand.

“Use the gist of this meme and create your own videos on various subjects that reinforce values of the Balenciaga brand and build on the momentum. It can serve as a great vehicle for Balenciaga to get back into the limelight after a dark stint that harmed its image and reputation. Use it to your advantage and create your own campaign,” she advised.

And she warned that with the rapid adoption of AI and user-generated-content through social media, more brands are going to face this dilemma. Instilling more meaning into the brand is the solution.

“That’s why creating strong brand meaning that can act as an authentic signature is the greatest insurance that a brand can get. If you can’t create this authentic meaning, you will be easily copied by others,” she said.

“The proliferation of AI poses an amazing opportunity to luxury brands to switch focus and develop their own proprietary meaning now to protect themselves in the future. Meaning will be the most important brand asset,” she concluded.