Paris-based luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton has come under fire from Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of Ukrainian president’s office, who appeared incensed by the company’s ad.
The ad in question, which Podolyak shared on his Twitter account, is a short video featuring a blue-white-and-red flag being unfurled, with single black lines that separate the colors stylized as the letter “V”.
“An elite fashion house focused on 'Russian nouveau riche' chose to publicly toy with the symbols of aggression,” Podolyak proclaimed in the tweet’s caption, noting that the Russian national flag has the same three colors as the flag in the ad, and that Russian troops engaged in the ongoing military operation in Ukraine use emblems bearing the letters “V” and “Z.”
Quite a few social media users, however, did not seem particularly impressed by the Ukrainian official’s rant, and chimed in that Louis Vuitton is a French brand and the flag seen in the ad actually resembles the French national banner rather than the Russian national flag.
“The spot was shot at Musée d'Orsay, and those are the colors of the French flag. Given that LV is a French company, it makes sense. BTW, the V comes from ‘Vuitton’, and not all blue-white-red combo scream ‘Russia’,” one netizen remarked.
And yet another social media user suggested that the pattern emblazoned on the flag in the ad was actually created over a century ago, back in the 1900s, long before the start of the current Ukrainian conflict.
Last year, Louis Vuitton also came under fire on social media over its then-new jewelry collection, which netizens perceived as a show of support for Russia's actions in Ukraine. Specifically, some elements of that collection featured the letters “V” and “Z” in their design.