Upset at being barred from buying Chanel products, several Russian influencers are sharing videos that show them destroying the French label’s expensive handbags.
Chanel closed its stores in Russia amid the Russia-Ukraine war and donated to the Ukrainian cause. After shuttering its Russian outlets, the luxury label said it had stopped selling its goods to Russian people abroad who intended to take them back to their home country, Insider reported.
This move on Chanel’s part did not go down well with Russian influencers, who accused the fashion house of ‘Russophobia’. In response, many influencers have shared videos which show them taking a pair of scissors to their Chanel handbags.
"Never seen any brand acting so disrespectful towards their clients as Chanel" Russian model Victoria Bonya wrote while sharing an Instagram video which shows her cutting up her black quilted Chanel bag. Victoria has over 9.3 million Instagram followers.
Russian TV host and actor Marina Ermoshkina told USA TODAY that she was among the first to launch the boycott Chanel campaign.
"To make Russian women, who are trying to make a purchase in their store outside territory of former Soviet Union, sign a humiliating document, that they have nothing to do with Russia, and to insist that they prove that, as well as get them to promise they will never wear this items on Russian territory in my view is a total contradiction to the modern world’s values," Marina said. Her video also shows her destroying a Chanel bag.
DJ Katya Guseva, who has over half a million Instagram followers, also blasted Chanel with a similar video.
On social media, however, reactions to Russian influencers’ unique form of protest ranged from angry to disappointed.
Russian influencers cutting up @CHANEL bags in response to them leaving the Russian market. I guess for them not having access to luxury items is much of a tragedy and crime than the killing, torture and rape that the Russian army is committing in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/Fde11LFVXO — Dmytro Moyseyev (@DmytroMoyseyev) April 7, 2022
to the Russian influencers who cut up their Chanel bags because the brand was disrespectful - don't you think YOUR country is being disrespectful by invading Ukraine and causing families to flee to bomb shelters and abandon their everyday life for Putin's greed.— (@brunettewreck) April 8, 2022
I just wonder what kind of @Russia human being cuts up their Chanel bag in protest but doesn’t protest the slaughtering of innocent women and children in Ukraine. Apparently Russia has become as materialistic as the U.S. @KremlinRussia_E is a monster. — Lynn Brewer (@lynnbrewer) April 6, 2022
In a statement to Insider, Chanel said: “We have rolled out a process to ask clients for whom we do not know the main residency to confirm that the items they are purchasing will not be used in Russia.
"We recognize that this process of walking through the law has caused disappointment to some of our clients," read their statement. "We are currently working on improving this approach and we apologize for any misunderstanding this may have caused, as welcoming all our clients, regardless of where they come from, is a priority for Chanel."
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