Calvin Klein ad featuring FKA twigs banned in the UK for objectifying women

The underwear campaign featuring British singer FKA twigs received complaints about it being “overly sexualised”.

A Calvin Klein advert featuring singer FKA twigs has been banned after complaints the images were “overly sexualised”.

The campaign, first released last April, featured twigs – whose real name is Tahliah Debrett Barnett – with a shirt draped across her naked body, revealing half of one breast and the side of her buttocks. It was captioned “Calvins or nothing”.

Two people complained about the ad to the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), arguing it presented the musician as “a stereotypical sexual object” – accusations with which the ASA agreed.

“The ad used nudity and centred on FKA twigs' physical features rather than the clothing, to the extent that it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object,” it said in a statement, adding that “the image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing advertised”.

“We therefore concluded the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause serious offence.”

FKA Twigs in banned Calvin Klein ad. Picture: Calvin Klein

The decision by the ASA means that the advertisement featuring twigs cannot appear again in its current form.

The same complaints were levelled at a Calvin Klein advert featuring Kendall Jenner, which showed the US supermodel covering her bare breasts while wearing a pair of jeans.

But, the ASA found these posters did not focus on Jenner’s body “in a manner that portrayed her as a sexual object”, and the level of nudity was not beyond that which people would expect for a lingerie advert.

An ad featuring Kendall Jenner was ultimately deemed acceptable. Picture: Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein has defended the ad featuring twigs, saying in a statement the images of both her and Jenner adopted “natural and neutral” poses.

“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 brand said.

It added that twigs and Jenner collaborated with the company and approved the images, and “felt a sense of empowerment and confidence from having participated”.

While twigs is yet to comment on the ban, she told Rolling Stone at the time of the campaign’s release that “doing this means I can be who I am – a strong woman”.

“That isn’t going to go in and out of fashion. When I’m in my 60s and have grandchildren, I can show them these pictures and say, ‘Your grandmother was strong’.”