FKA Twigs has branded her Calvin Klein ad ban a product of “double standards.”
The singer has had her promotion for the brand pulled by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) over complaints it objectified women — days after a campaign featuring “The Bear” actor Jeremy Allen White stripped to his underwear was hailed a hit.
Twigs’ ad featured her wearing more than White. It showed her in 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 ASA received two complaints that the images used were “overly sexualized,” offensive and irresponsible because they objectified women and were inappropriately displayed.
“I do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labeled me,” Twigs — born Tahliah Debrett Barnett — stated about the decision on Instagram, posting alongside a picture of her pulled poster. “I see a beautiful, strong woman of color whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine. In light of reviewing other campaigns past and current of this nature, I can’t help but feel there are some double standards here.”
“So, to be clear … 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 added.
“Thank you to CK and Mert and Marcus, [the fashion photography duo] who gave me a space to express myself exactly how I wanted to. I will not have my narrative changed,” she said. She concluded her post by thanking Calvin Klein.
Calvin Klein also previously defended the ad, saying it was similar to those it had been releasing in the U.K. for many years. The fashion brand said Twigs had collaborated with the brand to produce the image and had approved it before publication. It added any “conventionally sensitive” body areas were fully covered and the subject was in a natural and neutral position.
“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 centered 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 offense,” the ASA ruled.
