In the week that Calvin Klein went viral with its latest underwear advert, featuring The Bear's Jeremy Allen White, with a side of his eye-popping abs, another of their campaigns hit headlines for altogether different reasons. The brand's 2023 image of singer FKA Twigs wrapped in a denim shirt with its long-standing tagline 'Calvins or nothing' has been banned in the UK.
Twigs' ad has been deemed "likely to cause offence," by a watchdog after just two complaints. The ASA said the “image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised," calling it "overly sexualised." Twigs refutes the negative labelling of the campaign, and has praised the esteemed photographers Mert and Marcus for the collaboration. "I see a beautiful strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine," she wrote in a statement on Instagram, which she shared alongside the banned image. She added "I will not have my narrative changed."
There is no irony lost in the fact that the Allen White images continue to be the object of the internet's affection, dubbed "a shareable feast" by the New Yorker for fans of the on-screen cook and his Iron Claw-honed body. The pictures are a reminder that sex sells — just as long as it's served in a way that the internet finds palatable.
Perceived double standards aside, it's no surprise that Calvin Klein adverts have both gone viral, or been banned for their compositions. Pushing buttons by having their models undo them has been the backbone of the brand, for better or for worse, since 1980. Brooke Shields, then just 15, famously spouted the same refrain which features on Twigs' ad for a CK jeans commercial ("You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing") which led them to be removed from air in the US by two networks.
But of course, Calvin Klein and its roster of photographers didn't invent the provocative ad. Innuendo, eroticism and brazen nudity has been used to sell luxury fashion and beauty products for decades. As Alice Farmiloe a strategist for luxury brands reminds us, "P.T Barnum once said, 'There's no such thing as bad publicity'. Bold advertising is designed to spark debate. It should always try to push against the bounds of what is deemed 'safe' and 'acceptable'." Though, adds that, crucially, only: "if it feels true to the brand's agenda. Brands who want to have a place in culture should be sharing their POV on the world."
Holding a mirror up to a moment in culture, often via attitudes to nudity and sexuality, is a strategy long employed by the world's most recognised designers and photographers. Many of whom have become known as master provocateurs over the years. Yves Saint Laurent started a series of notable nude ads when he himself was captured by Jeanloup Sieff in 1971 (a decade when the female page 3 became inaugurated) for his eponymous Pour Home fragrance. It was later made into a jeans ad.
Then who could forget Wonderbra's uplifting 1990s' 'Hello Boys' ads with Eva Herzigova? They apparently led to traffic build-ups and some say even crashes. Tom Ford has never been afraid to be subversive or just downright sexual in his advertising — see his 2003 Gucci ad with Carine Roitfeld which featured a model on their knees peeling down another's underwear to reveal pubic hair in the shape of the brand's iconic G. It was the era of the Brazilian and Sex and the City's heyday.
Sadly, some provocative advertising speaks to a darker narrative behind the scenes. In pushing boundaries, there have been campaigns which have caused harm in the process. Kate Moss famously starred topless opposite Mark Wahlberg in a 1992 Calvin Klein ad, aged 17. She has since spoken on an episode of Desert Island Discs of how she has "not very good memories" from the underwear campaign, which made her so anxious she had to take valium in the lead up to it. Moss agreed with host Lauren Laverne that she felt objectified and said she was "vulnerable and scared."
The 2000s caused a major storm with its nude fashion spreads. When Sophie Dahl posed naked for Yves Saint Laurent's Opium it had nearly 1000 ASA complaints, and was dubbed "degrading" by some. Though it didn't stop the brand creating a full frontal campaign again two years later for its men's fragrance M7. As a decade when women's bodies were under siege throughout the media, it's no surprise clothes were very much secondary to mostly female model's highly sexualised bodies in some campaigns. Especially with now-disgraced men such as Dov Charney heading up then hugely popular American Apparel and Terry Richardson shooting campaigns for luxury fashion giants at the time (both of whom deny allegations of sexual assault against them). The fact that American Apparel sold spandex leggings, hosiery and basic tees likely passed a lot of people by, as it was the model's akimbo poses which sparked the conversation.
Of course, it's not just semi or full frontal nudity which has seen fashion brands receive backlash for their marketing. Take Sisley's 'Fashion Junkie' ad of two models craning over a white dress, which was famously banned for riffing off the glamourisation of cocaine in the Noughties. While political issues, spanning the death penalty to the treatment of AIDs victims in the 1990s, were conveyed in ads by the brand United Colours of Benetton, which became known for its ability to shock with billboards in this era.
And fast forward to the 2010s and women's bodies were the subject of furore in clothes this time, as models including Kiki Willems, then 18, were chosen for Hedi Slimane's Saint Laurent spring 2015 ads. In an apparent nod to Slimane's rock 'n' roll aesthetic, Willems' tiny frame appeared collapsed on the floor, with her chest and ribs visible in the lowcut dress. With concerns over body image, the ad was banned as she was deemed to look "unhealthily thin" by the ASA.
In the age of social media, brands are still willing to tread the line between virality and backlash. As fashion photographer Louis Bever, posits, the lure of social media fame may only fuel the desire to court controversy. "Brands such as Benneton used 'controversial' imagery to provoke the audience and to stand out compared to competitors. However, as the backlash received attention, it resulted in more sales. Brands are still doing this today for similar reasons. They want to stand out, and adding a provocative image or a message behind it means it'll spread like wildfire in the time of 'going viral' culture."
Controversy is a powerful marketing tool. People are criticising FKA Twigs ad for not having a 'story' but not all advertising needs to.
It might seem surprising that risqué ads have endured even in the age of cancel culture, though not a season goes by without the site Diet Prada - who have become the fashion world's unofficial watchdogs - posting an ill-judged or frankly tone deaf campaign constructed to attract attention. Few have matched the scandal and disgust caused by Balenciaga's so-called "bondage bear" campaign featuring two young girls from late 2022.The lure of provocation endures for the same reason it always has: to make people feel something."Numerous studies have shown that creating an emotional response in an audience is the best way to build salience and be remembered," Farmiloe says. "Controversy is a powerful marketing tool. People are criticising FKA Twigs ad for not having a 'story' but I don't feel all advertising needs to."
Which content has the power to provoke people may change as fast as the latest TikTok fad, but as long as they have the means, brands won't stop seeking to try to find the sweet spot of shock and awe. And as Twigs has proved, even after they're banned, in the age of the internet, the ads will live on.
