How times have changed, and standards have lowered.
In 1981, designer-jean maker Calvin Klein found itself in hot water with the public for a suggestive TV ad featuring Brooke Shields. “You know what comes between me and my Calvins?” the 15-year-old model and actress asked, answering, “Nothing.”
While certainly suggestive, it left something to the imagination.
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Fast forward 35 years later, and the fashion label is under fire for a new advertising campaign that is much more explicit, involving in one instance an upskirt photo on Calvin Klein’s Instagram page. Another image depicts a model’s hands jammed inside her panties, with the caption, “I pulse in #mycalvins.”
Esquire, no prudish publication, derided the campaign as “Ridiculously Sexual and Definitely NSFW.”
Reaction via social media was divided but largely angry.
“[A]wful ad. Your concept looks predatory. This ’upskirt’ photo invites men to do this to women. Disrespectful,” tweeted a woman from New York City.
“I get that @CalvinKlein likes to ’go there’, push the envelope and show too much skin but this is just creepy and too far. Not ok in my book,” tweeted another woman.
“Geez — pushing the limits of fashion does not have to include soft porn,” complained a Kansas City man.
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