Men ‘Make Money’ And Women ‘Seduce’ In Calvin Klein’s Latest Ad
There’s a terrible Calvin Klein billboard in Soho, NYC.
CK recruited Kendall Jenner, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, and FKA Twigs, among other models and artists, for its Spring 2016 #mycalvins campaign. The campaign was launched January 27 on Instagram, consisting of individual photos of the multiple celebrities with the words “I _____ in #mycalvins” atop each image.
And while the initial rollout of the advertisement seemed fun, hot, and sexy, the latest campaign billboard, hovering over a busy New York City street where hundreds of thousands of women walk by everyday, is totally inappropriate.
Seduction is a woman’s greatest superpower, but the juxtaposition of the two statements feels incredibly demeaning. Actess Klara Kristin “seduces” in her Calvins while Fetty Wap “makes money” in his.
Really? How very backwards of you, CK.
CEO and cofounder of lingerie brand ThirdLove, Heidi Zak, has launched a campaign requesting that Calvin Klein remove its “offensive” billboard:
“The billboard propagates an archaic and offensive gender stereotype that women are nothing more than sexual objects, while men are the breadwinners. Calvin Klein has a vast assortment of content for this campaign, so we find it appalling that the company chose to put these two images side by side in one of the most highly visible intersections in the country,” she wrote in the petition. “Is the message of Calvin Klein that women are only good for seduction? Are we stuck in the 1950s? Are these the values of the Calvin Klein brand?”
Heidi also created a video with reactions to the CK billboard. Watch below:
Calvin Klein has yet to comment.
