Kirsty’s take on “that” Calvin Klein advert
BBC News has, today, released the headline “ad with FKA twigs banned for objectifying women” and all it has done is made me roll my eyes and yawn… The headline, not Calvin Klein.
Apparently there have been two complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority about the image featuring FKA twigs however two other images, from the same advertising campaign have been allowed to stay, according to Sky News.
So why am I rolling my eyes? There is a huge - and I’d argue more important - point being missed here by all - Calvin Klein, BBC News, Sky News and even the Advertising Standards Authority - and that is the use of filters… And, for once, I’m not just talking about photographic ones.
Let’s take a walk around some local places, shall we? The wonderful Hardwick Hall has a garden FULL of statues in these sorts of poses!! Replace a 21st century denim shirt with a chistled-out cloth and you get the idea. Derby Museums, itself, is home to the biggest collection of artworks by Joseph Wright and has one of his paintings - “the widow of an indian chief watching the arms of her deceased husband” describing her denim shirt equivalent as a “roman toga” to the British culture who had never seen or met the fashion or culture of North America. AND guess what?! The fabric, described as a toga by Wright, seems to have been placed below the subject’s breast. Oh, and those statues at Hardwick Hall I mentioned? To quote my children there are “BUMS A PLENTY!” (both male & female!) in that glorified garden, as well as boobs.
The Widow of an Indian Chief watching the Arms of her Deceased Husband by Joseph Wright, painted 1783, Derby Museums
So, is this advertising campaign a form of 21st century art? Let’s be honest, our kids will have that answer in 100 years time. But here’s the answers my kids, aged 13, 11 & 6, currently have right now: BODYSHAPE is different for everyone. Creases are natural. Curves are allowed. Most boobs sag on grown women. This is all thanks to the stone statues at Hardwick Hall (and Chatsworth House gardens!) as well as paintings from the 1700s by Joseph Wright. My kids, influential, body confidence is certainly NOT due to the advertising campaigns of Calvin Klein, or other fashion retailers.
Can the Advertising Standards Agency, and the UK Government, please take time and action to realise that these sorts of images are damaging to health & wellbeing?
Legally we are obliged to point out that this - quite obviously - is not an image taken by Be Bold Be You at Studio1825 (there’s been far too much airbrushing used to be one of ours!)
Here’s why… The government claim that assemblies in schools will sort it all out but the fact of the matter is that there is a health crisis unfolding right before our very eyes and it’s not even talked about. Last year I published a blog about the importance of talking about the effects filters can have on us and I mentioned the slightly scary term “snapchat dysorphia” becoming a recognised medical condition and that the character traits of this illness is seen as a body-image disorder characterized by the need to heavily edit one's own digital image. They need to edit the image because they believe the true human form, captured on the camera, isn’t a good enough version of themselves. The edited version is then uploaded onto social media and others believe that this is an “untouched” photograph, portraying a true human form thus creating a vicious cycle of negative thoughts in relation to our own shape, size and image. The truth is that the image portrayed is a fictitious image - it’s false! This means that it’s a state of art that a natural human will never be able to look like because of the “artistic flare” added to it by things such as filters. The even more worrying thing is that over 40% of images on social media are unrecognised as having a filter put on them, but that’s a chat for another day.
So, are people complaining the the advertising standards agency about the right thing?
In my opinion, no. It’s really not a sexual image! I do wonder that, if they’d left it in colour, it would be a softer and more interesting image as you’d have the mix of skin and fabric mixing on a contrasting colour palette. Would that have been softer by the public - who knows? I’ve seen more bum cheeks hanging out of a supposed bikini pant brief at the swimming pool in Derby than I have on this advert! We’ve got a hell of a lot more work to do for images of women draped in strategically placed fabric, to be the primary concern in the portrayal of modern women in 2024.
Learn more about our #uckthefilter campaign here and be in with a chance of receiving your OWN free boudoir photoshoot, this year.