Clothing chain Zara has pulled an ad campaign featuring limbless mannequins dressed in white figurines after it drew sharp criticism and calls for a boycott from pro-Palestinian activists, Reuters reported on Monday.

Images of the mannequins were removed from both Zara’s front page and its mobile app.

Inditex, the company that owns Zara, said the change was part of a normal procedure to “update” content. She did not comment on the call to boycott the brand, but said campaign photos for the collection, called Atelier, were taken in September after the concept was conceived in July.

In other words, Inditex implied that the images had nothing to do with the war between Hamas and Israel, which began with a surprise attack by the Palestinian terrorist organization on October 7.

Social media users stormed Zara’s Instagram account, with thousands of comments on photos for the ‘Atelier’ collection scathingly criticizing the image, and the message ‘#BoycottZara’ went viral on the ‘X’ platform, formerly Twitter.

One of the incriminating images shows a model holding a mannequin dressed in white, while another shows a bust lying on the floor. Another photo showed a mannequin without arms.

The new fashion collection has become a real PR nightmare for Zara

Many netizens said the images resembled photos of victims of Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip, in some cases wrapped in white by Palestinian emergency services.

During the presentation of the collection on December 7, Zara said that it was inspired by men’s tailors of past centuries. The photos show the artist’s studio with ladders, packing materials, wooden boxes and blocks, and assistants in overalls.

The backlash highlights the heightened sensitivity international brands face amid the conflict in Gaza, and calls for a boycott of the companies over their stance. Web Summit’s CEO resigned in October after comments about the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The photos published by Zara, which appeared on the main page of the online store Zara’s website on Monday morning, were no longer visible on the website or its app by the evening. A link on Zara’s UK website to the ‘Atelier’ collection led to a page featuring last year’s collection.

The collection of six ‘Atelier’ jackets is one of Zara’s most expensive, with prices ranging from $229 for a gray wool jacket to $799 for a studded leather jacket.