A Calvin Klein ad featuring FKA Twigs has been banned across the pond after the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority concluded it portrays the singer as a “stereotypical sexual object.”
The poster, which came out in April, shows the 36-year-old wearing a denim shirt that only covers one-half of her body, leaving the side of her butt and some of her other breast exposed. FKA Twigs strategically holds her hand in front of her breast so that her nipple is covered.
The slogan “Calvins or nothing” appears at the top of the image.
The ASA claimed it received complaints from two about the ad, claiming it was “offensive and irresponsible, because they objectified women; and inappropriate for display in an untargeted medium.”
Therefore, the group determined that the “image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised” and that her “physical features” had “presented her as a stereotypical sexual object,” according to a ruling revealed Wednesday.
Since the ad is “irresponsible and likely to cause serious offence,” the ruling states that it “must not appear again in the form complained of.”
Two of Kendall Jenner’s Calvin Klein ads, where she appeared topless, were also investigated but were ultimately found not to have breached any of the ASA’s advertising rules.
One of the questionable images, also released in April, shows Jenner topless with her hands held across her bare chest, and a pair of jeans on her bottom half. The other shows her lying on her back in a bra and underwear as she pulls a pair of jeans down past her hips.
However, the ASA deemed the one with Jenner holding her breast acceptable, claiming it was not done “in a manner that portrayed her as a sexual object,” while the other fell within the bounds of acceptable lingerie advertising.
Calvin Klein has defended the FKA Twigs ad in a statement, saying: “The images were not vulgar and were of two confident and empowered women who had chosen to identify with the Calvin Klein brand, and the ads contained a progressive and enlightened message,” according to the Guardian.
They argued the poses adopted by both her and Jenner were “natural and neutral.”
The Post has contacted reps for Calvin Klein, FKA Twigs and Jenner for comment.
FKA Twigs responded to the ban Thursday in an Instagram statement writing,”I do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me. i see a beautiful strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine.”
“In light of reviewing other campaigns past and current of this nature, i can’t help but feel there are some double standards here. so to be clear… I am proud of my physicality and hold the art i create with my vessel to the standards of women like josephine baker, eartha kitt and grace jones who broke down barriers of what it looks like to be empowered and harness a unique embodied sensuality. thank you to ck and mert and marcus who gave me a space to express myself exactly how i wanted to – i will not have my narrative changed,” FKA Twigs concluded.
Calvin Klein is no stranger to overtly sexual and often controversial advertising, dating as far back as 1980 when a then-15-year-old Brooke Shields infamously asked consumers, “You want to know what comes in between me and my Calvins? Nothing.”
Earlier this week, “The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White just about broke the internet with his steamy, city-wide Calvin Klein underwear campaign.
