“I can’t help but feel there are some double standards here.”
FKA Twigs is speaking out after her Calvin Klein ad was banned by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The ad, which shows the musician wearing an oversize denim shirt draped on her otherwise naked body, was banned by the organization after the campaign generated complaints. “The ad used nudity and centered on FKA Twig's [sic] physical features rather than the clothing, to the extent that it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object,” the ASA wrote in its assessment. “We therefore concluded [the ad] was irresponsible and likely to cause serious offense.”
Shortly after the ASA published its statement, FKA Twigs shared the banned image on her Instagram, calling out the double standard of her ad being pulled when other similar photos are not. “I do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labeled me," she wrote. "I see a beautiful, strong woman of color whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine," the musician wrote.
“In light of reviewing other campaigns past and current of this nature, I can’t help but feel there are some double standards here," FKA Twigs continued. "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.”
Twigs went on to thank Calvin Klein and photographers Mert and Marcus, who “gave me a space to express myself exactly how I wanted to. I will not have my narrative changed.”
The campaign also includes two images of Kendall Jenner: In one, she is wearing a bra and jeans, pulling the pants down to reveal her underwear; in the other, she poses topless in jeans while sitting on the floor with her arms over her breasts. Those images were assessed by the ASA, but they were not banned.
As noted by British Vogue, Calvin Klein has also released a statement defending the campaign: “The images were not vulgar and were of two confident and empowered women who had chosen to identify with the Calvin Klein brand," the brand stated. In response to the complaints, Calvin Klein added, “the ads were similar to ads they had been publishing in the UK for many years," as noted in the ASA assessment.
The original article can be found on Teen Vogue US.
