'Boycott Zara' trends as Ushna Shah divorces brand after it parodies Palestinians' agony

Pakistani actress Ushna Shah who has been actively raising her voice for Palestine, lambasted international clothing brand Zara for its callous photoshoot mocking the agony and torment that Gazans are going through due to the ongoing Israeli offensive.

Taking to social media platform X, Shah lambasted the fashion brand for its ill-timed and inconsiderate photoshoot that apparently mocks the destruction and death that Palestinians have been subjected to since October 7 in the wake of Israeli onslaught.

"So do we throw away existing #zara clothes or just not buy new ones? IMO since they don’t have logos on them I don’t think wearing the ones we already have should be a problem?," she wrote adding, "Never shopping there again, obviously."

Her remarks followed Zara's photoshoot, which purportedly depicts small bodies wrapped in white cloth similar to Muslims' burial shrouds, a cardboard cutout that loosely resembles an upside-down Palestine map, rubble, statues with missing limbs, etc, has caused an uproar on social media.

The brand, however, has since then apparently deleted the image in which a model can be seen carrying a mannequin — wrapped in white — on her shoulders just like Palestinian mothers were shown hugging their deceased children before burial, wrapped in kafans (funeral cloth).

Netizens have slammed the fashion brand for its insensitive photoshoot in light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza which has seen more than 17,000 Palestinians — including over 7,000 children — being martyred due to the ongoing Israeli offensive.

This is not the first time the Baala actress has taken a principled stance in support of Palestine as previously. She posted a video on her X account highlighting the misinformation campaign by Western media to suppress the Palestinian genocide being carried out by Israel.

However, Shah is not the only one who has censured Zara's photoshoot, as social media has been flooded with posts condemning the fashion brand's ill-timed and inconsiderate photoshoot.

"Beyond disgusted," said one user who lambasted the fashion brand for "using genocide of people in Palestine" for a marketing campaign.

Meanwhile, another user termed it as "Gaza genocide collection".