FKA Twigs' Partially Nude Calvin Klein Ad Gets Banned — And She's Not Having It
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
FKA Twigs says she’s been held to “double standards” following the U.K.’s decision to ban her 2023 Calvin Klein campaign.
The ad in question featured the British singer-songwriter partially nude, with her breasts concealed by a button-down shirt that hung off of her right shoulder. It was taken by photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, and accompanied with the slogan, “Calvins or nothing.”
Even though FKA Twigs’ campaign debuted nearly a year ago, the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) prohibited it from ever being shown again this week, arguing that it had inappropriately sexualized its subject.
“The ad used nudity and centered on FKA Twigs’ physical features rather than the clothing, to the extent that it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object,” the ASA’s statement read, per The Guardian. The statement went on to describe the photograph as “irresponsible and likely to cause serious offense,” primarily because it “placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised.”
Interestingly, the ASA acknowledged also receiving complaints about a similar Calvin Klein ad featuring Kendall Jenner, but deemed that it was within the bounds of acceptable lingerie advertising.
FKA Twigs blasted the decision with a lengthy statement on Instagram.
“i do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me,” she wrote early Thursday. “i see a beautiful strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine.”
FKA Twigs' 2023 Calvin Klein campaign ad got banned because it "used nudity and centered on FKA twigs’ physical features rather than the clothing," according to the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority.
Representatives for Calvin Klein defended both FKA Twigs and Jenner’s photos, saying in a statement: “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.”
The timing of the ban has raised a fair share of eyebrows, and for good reason. Last week, Calvin Klein unveiled a much-buzzed-about photo and video campaign starring Jeremy Allen White. Much of the steamy imagery ― which, incidentally, was also shot by Alas and Piggott ― features the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning star of “The Bear” posing on a New York rooftop in just a pair of briefs.
Though FKA Twigs didn’t mention Jenner or White by name in her response, she nonetheless said the banning of her ad was indicative of “some double standards” upon “reviewing other campaigns past and current of this nature.”
“i am proud of my physicality and hold the art i create with my vessel to 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,” she wrote.
After thanking Calvin Klein, Alas and Piggott for giving her “a space to express myself exactly who i wanted to,” she added: “i will not have my narrative changed.”
