Calvin Klein ad featuring singer FKA Twigs banned for being too sexual

By Jim Leffman via SWNS

A Calvin Klein ad featuring singer FKA Twigs has been banned by advertising watchdogs for being too sexual.

However, two other ads from the same campaign featuring model and influencer Kendall Jenner were deemed inoffensive by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The poster featured FKA Twigs wearing a denim shirt drawn halfway around her body, leaving the side of her buttocks and half of one breast exposed, with the slogan 'Calvins or nothing'.

Two other posters featuring Kendall Jenner with the same slogan were complained about by the ASA after the campaign in April last year.

The first of these showed her side-on, topless with her hands held across her bare chest, and a pair of jeans on her bottom half.

The second had her lying on her back, wearing underwear and pulling down a pair of jeans past her hips.

The complaints said that the ads were overly sexualized, offensive and irresponsible because they objectified women and were inappropriate for display in a place where anyone could see them.

Calvin Klein said the ads did not overly sexualize Kendall Jenner or FKA Twigs and were not irresponsible.

They added that both models had collaborated with Calvin Klein to produce the images and had approved them before publication.

FKA Twigs has dated Batman star Robert Pattinson as well as The 1975 frontman Matt Healy.

Kendall Jenner is the daughter of Kris and Caitlyn Jenner and shot to fame in her 15 years on Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

A Calvin Klein spokesperson said: "The images were not vulgar and were of two confident and empowered women who had chosen to identify with the Calvin Klein brand, and that the ads contained a progressive and enlightened message."

They said that the style of the imagery in the ads was not overtly risqué but a degree of nudity was to be expected in underwear ads. They claimed they did not encourage the public to view the model’s body as an object.

They highlighted that well-known men had also featured in the campaign, which suggested that it was not focused on sexualizing women.

They said that while the outside of FKA Twigs’ breast was visible, the breast itself was obscured, and in Kendall Jenner’s case, her arms and hands covered her breasts.

However, the ASA said FKA Twigs’ buttocks and breasts were exposed, and her shirt was draped over one shoulder and drawn halfway across her body.

They said the composition focussed on her body rather than on the clothing being advertised and it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object.

They concluded: "We, therefore, concluded the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause serious offense."

Clearing the Kendall Jenner posters, they said: "We considered that the image was stylized, due to Jenner’s pose and that while the image did contain a degree of nudity, it did not focus on the model’s body more generally in a manner that portrayed her as a sexual object."

They ruled the other Jenner poster had a sexual element to it due to her being partially undressed and the slogan appearing across her crotch.

But they said that her underwear was so prominent that it was obviously a lingerie ad and the level of nudity was not beyond that which people would expect for a lingerie ad and neither ad would cause offence.

None of the ads were placed within 100 meters of a school but the ASA ruled that because it was inappropriate, the FKA Twigs ad should not have appeared at all.

They concluded: "The ad must not appear again in the form complained of.

"We told Calvin Klein Inc. to ensure that future ads did not irresponsibly objectify women and were targeted appropriately."