All it takes is two underwear ads to spotlight one clear double standard

Close to a year ago, back in April 2023, Calvin Klein released their spring campaign with FKA Twigs. The black and white image shows the singer-songwriter and dancer with a denim shirt draped across her body, her shoulder, hip, and the side of her breast left exposed. It’s tasteful, pared back, true ‘body artistry’, as the caption says.

Well, at least that’s what I think. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK seems to disagree. After receiving two—yes, two—complaints that the images were ‘overly sexualised’, offensive, objectified women, and were inappropriately displayed, they decided to ban the ad entirely.

The ASA have said the ad framed FKA Twigs as a “stereotypical sexual object” and the “image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised.” Here, I ask you, has anyone ever seen a perfume ad? They’re absolutely dripping with eroticism and sex appeal, showcasing an idealised lifestyle, rather than what the product actually smells like.

Obviously, being labelled as a “stereotypical sexual object” didn’t sit quite right with FKA Twigs. Posting a statement to Instagram, she wrote: “I do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me. I see a beautiful strong woman of colour 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. Thank you to CK and Mert and Marcus who gave me a space to express myself exactly how I wanted to — I will not have my narrative changed.”

The current campaign FKA is referring to here is that of one Mr Jeremy Allen White, whose advertisements brought in $12.7 million in media exposure in just 48 hours. Dressed in just a pair of boxer briefs, The Bear actor’s videos and images have gone viral, basically breaking the internet and soliciting commentary that ranges from politely thirsty to what verges on complete objectification.

The photos were taken by the same photographer, Mert Alas, who also snapped Kendall Jenner’s photos for that same campaign back in April. An image of the model in a pair of denim jeans, topless but covering her breasts with her hands, received similar complaints, but the ASA said, nah, this one’s grand, arguing that it wasn’t, actually, overly sexualised.

Calvin Klein released a statement defending these advertisements, saying: “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.”

It’s at this point that I urge you, dear reader, to take a quick scroll through the Calvin Klein Instagram account, where you’ll quickly see for yourself that there’s nothing overly salacious going on. It’s a selection of models, celebrities and other A-listers in various stages of undress, modelling—wait for it—underwear. And to model underwear, you have to show what? Yes, some skin!

A quick side note here to say that I scrolled back through a year’s worth of posts on the CK Instagram account and saw exactly two images of models that could be described as plus sized, so maybe that is where our focus and unrest would be better placed?

We’re not even two weeks into 2024 and we’re already being throttled with double standards, thinly veiled misogyny, and general distaste of women and the things we like (yes, I’m talking about that Golden Globes host). Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone could just get a grip?