Calvin Klein ad starring FKA twigs banned over complaints it ‘objectified’ women

A poster for Calvin Klein featuring British musician FKA twigs has been banned for being likely to cause serious offence by objectifying women.

The poster, seen in April, featured the singer wearing a denim shirt that was drawn halfway around her body, leaving the side of her buttocks and half of one breast exposed, with text reading: "Calvins or nothing."

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received two complaints that the images were "overly sexualised", offensive and irresponsible because they objectified women and were inappropriately displayed.

Defending the ad, Calvin Klein said it was similar to those it had been releasing in the UK for many years.

The fashion brand said FKA twigs, who it described as a "confident and empowered woman", had collaborated with Calvin Klein to produce the image and had approved it before publication.

It added that all "conventionally sensitive" body areas were fully covered and the subject was in a natural and neutral position.

The ASA said: "We considered the image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised.

"The ad used nudity and centred on FKA twigs’ physical features rather than the clothing, to the extent that it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object.

"We therefore concluded the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause serious offence."

The ASA did not ban two posters from the same campaign featuring model Kendall Jenner following complaints on the same grounds, finding that they did not focus on her body in a manner that portrayed her as a sexual object and the level of nudity was not beyond that which people would expect for a lingerie ad.

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