Being shocked a Calvin Klein advertisement is controversial is like being surprised an M. Night Shyamalan movie has a twist. Like realizing you got your period, gasp!, an average of four weeks after the last one. Like being shocked that that one girl you went to high school with has posted yet another duck-face selfie on Instagram. Which is to say, not at all shocking.
As part of their new ad campaign "Erotica", Calvin Klein's Instagram account posted an upskirt photo of 23-year-old model Klara Kristen and invited people to "take a peek."
According to , "The comment section below the photo immediately lit up with outrage from users upset that the photo was reinforcing 'peeping tom' behavior and providing 'fodder for pedophiles'—since Kristin is made to appear underage."
"Way to perpetuate rape culture @CalvinKlein, do you have any women in your ad department at all or do you just think they're there for decoration?" read one comment.
"WTF??? This is so disturbing on so many levels, the biggest one is that she looks 12!" read another.
By Friday, the photo had 46.3K likes and 2,162 comments.
I definitely think Calvin Klein wants to be controversial in their advertising. It's been part of the brand's identity for as long as I can remember, but that being said, I don't think they foresaw the public reading "pedophilia" from this image. And that is a problem. When companies hire only like-minded people, no one is around to point out how other groups of people, or even how most people, might view something.
For example, in 2011, skin care brand Nivea released an ad that featured a clean-shaven black man throwing the afroed and bearded, disembodied head of his former, "uncivilized self with the slogan "Re-civilize yourself." I'm going to hazard a guess that there wasn't a black person in the room when that ad was created. Nor when it was approved or when it was printed.
But back to Calvin Klein. I get it, sex sells, but there's a fine line between sexy and poor taste. And I think that they would have an easier time straddling that line if they had more voices in the room.
I think I just came up with their next ad. Girl straddles huge line while diverse group discusses what she should do to that line next.
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