I seriously don't see what all the fuss is about with Balenciaga putting complete control on their image. I'm actually glad they did.
The handbag-hype that Balenciaga received has greatly cheapened the brand, with all the (and sometimes unfortunate, with the way they wear it) celebrity-advertising. I constantly see knock-offs at my school. Teen girls see the bags in magazines and want it, then they idolize Balenciaga, and Baby Phat or Abercrombie at the same time (I've seen both extremes).
That being said, it's logical that they don't want the Prada, Burberry, Gucci, and Dior embarrassments (chavs, rappers, etc).
The handbag part of the image control was particularly good, that it could only be worn with Balenciaga. The bags are particularly prone to be worn with Hootie Couture, Juicy Couture, Abercrombie, Baby Phat, and a numerous range of high and low end labels. They could be worn with Baby Phat in a photo-shoot, for example, and the people who see it will relate Balenciaga to that style, not knowing anything about Balenciaga.
The other alternative, for it to be properly styled, would be for the magazines to get approval for the styling and photoshoots. That would be extremely costly, however - if Balenciaga doesn't accept it, they just wasted thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours. The only other logical choice would be what they did.
Basically, see how Gucci or Burberry and the like have ended up. If they had done with Balenciaga is doing now, they wouldn't have had so much of a bad image. (Both are significantly improved now, though)