Calvin Klein: an advert too far?
“Think of Calvin Klein and you’ll likely picture the label’s ubiquitous black and white adverts featuring beautiful models in various states of undress,” said Alexandria Dale in Cosmopolitan. But after decades of “pushing the boundaries”, one of its ads has now been officially banned. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has concluded, in response to public complaints, that a campaign featuring the musician FKA twigs, which was first released last April, presents her as a “stereotypical sexual object” – and so is “irresponsible and likely to cause serious offence”.
This seems like a blatant case of double standards, said Clara Strunck in Harper’s Bazaar. It’s certainly a “sexy advert”: the poster has the singer “draped in nothing but a denim shirt, half falling off one side of her body”. But it’s no more risqué than a recent Calvin Klein campaign featuring Jeremy Allen White, in which the actor cavorts on a rooftop, naked but for a pair of tight white underpants. And that advert “has yet to be cancelled”. The ASA’s decision is proof that we live in a strange world, said Kristina Murkett on UnHerd. It seems that, today, two complaints from the public – just two – can see a fairly tasteful advert banned because it features “a bit of a model’s sideboob”. This is surely overkill, in a world where more than half of 11- to 16-year-olds have seen online pornography, and where everyone has “access to a Pandora’s box of inappropriate content” at the touch of a button.
FKA twigs is an award-winning musician “renowned for her individuality and style”, said Janet Street-Porter in the Daily Mail. The notion that she would agree to be part of a campaign that exploited her is “plain ridiculous”. Defending the image in an Instagram post, the artist questioned why equally racy Calvin Klein ads had not been censured in the past. “I do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me,” she said, insisting: “I will not have my narrative changed.” I sympathise with her, said Victoria Moss in the Evening Standard. “And yet a part of me thinks, why can’t you all put some bloody clothes on?” It would be nice to think that we were beyond using sex to sell clothing. “Show your bodies for art, sure.” But is it really worth it just to flog some denim?