Update, March 6, 2024: British regulators have walked back their January ban of a Calvin Klein ad starring FKA Twigs. In a statement, the U.K. Advertising Standards Authority said “strength of public feeling, including views expressed by FKA Twigs†led to the ban’s reversal, largely driven by “concern that our rationale for banning the ad was substantially flawed,†The Guardian reported on March 5. After “careful thought,†the regulatory body decided that “the image was not sexually explicit, that the ad presented FKA Twigs as confident and in control and, therefore, that she had not been objectified.â€
That doesn’t mean they’re letting the ad be seen just anywhere. Partially sticking to its guns, the ASA maintained that the image is “overtly sexual†and “not suitable for display in an untargeted medium,†meaning the ban stands for certain placements. The ASA previously said the ad depicted Twigs as a “stereotypical sexual object†and was wholly unfit for public consumption. Twigs refuted that idea when the ad was first banned, calling out the “double standard†of her own image being banned when the Kendall Jenner version wasn’t.
Original story, published January 11, follows.
Well, it’s the second time this week Calvin Klein got itself mixed up in questions over decorum and all that. The United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority banned FKA Twigs’s latest Calvin Klein ad in the country on January 10 due to its depiction of the singer as “a stereotypical sexual object†after two people issued complaints over the image. FKA Twigs called the regulatory agency out that evening: “i do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me,†she captioned an Instagram post of the photo shoot. “i see a beautiful strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine,†adding that, upon closer inspection, she feels there are some “double standards here.†Kendall Jenner’s ad earned similar complaints from the pair who took issue with FKA Twigs’s, though the ASA deemed the Kardashians star’s version acceptable. In FKA Twigs’s response, she said the art she makes with her body is actually based on “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.â€
The apparently offensive spread, captioned “Calvins or nothing,†features Twigs in contrapposto, half wearing the brand’s denim button-down that tastefully covers her nude right half. “The ad used nudity and centered on FKA Twigs’s physical features rather than the clothing, to the extent that it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object,†the ASA said, according to The Guardian, adding the “image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised.â€
Hmmm … well. Un petit misogynoir? Anyway. Calvin Klein doesn’t think the spread was something to write to an advertising-standards board about. “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,†it said in a statement, per The Guardian, calling the poses “natural and neutral.†Both women collaborated with the company and approved the images, the brand said.
As for the ASA having its Calvins in a twist over Twigs — it should know by now that she’s going to do whatever she’s going to do when it comes to how she depicts her body and sexuality. You would think anything FKA Twigs does would get a pass for gracing us with the historic album Magdalene.
This post has been updated.