Did Calvin Klein Replace Billboard Because of Public Outcry?

Posted Jun 24th 2009 at 1:55PM by Maureen Dempsey (Subscribe to Maureen Dempsey's posts)

Calvin Klein replaced it's scandalous "threesome" billboard with this swimwear one. Still not exactly G-rated... Photo: Rachel Been

The Calvin Klein denim billboard that caused quite a stir last week has come down. In its place is the new Calvin Klein swimwear ad, featuring Dutch supermodel Doutzen Krous emerging from the surf.

While the new ad could be perceived as equally provocative, the "New York Daily News" polled passers-by and the consensus was much more favorable, from "I do like the bathing suit" to "This one is brilliant!"

The old Calvin Klein Jeans billboard had the public all worked up. Photo: Maggie Coughlan, AOL

Krous is currently the face of Calvin Klein swimwear and has appeared in the company's campaigns since 2005.

While one might think CK caved to the outrage, some calling the jean billboard "borderline porn," we think it might have just been a case of good timing: Summer's officially here, and the new swimwear ads, all starring Krous, have been popping up in magazines this week.

Who knows? We think Calvin Klein must be loving all the attention! Either way, the controversial image(s) brought the brand back into the media (and consumers' minds).

If the removal of the racy ad has got you down, WalletPop.com has compiled the Top 10 Eye-Popping Ad Campaigns to keep your jaw agape.

Calvin Klein Retrospective

Calvin Klein started with $10,000 in 1968, and today earns billions of dollars in revenue every year. The controversial brand has become one of the most recognizable fashion labels on the planet.

Getty

In 1980, a 15-year-old Brooke Shields cooed that "nothing gets between me and my Calvins." CBS refused to air the spot but the campaign made the model and the designer household names.

Calvin Klein

Though his business is clothes, Klein is perhaps best known for his racy ads for fragrances and undies, which always managed to embrace the next big thing -- and infuriate the establishment in the process. This controversial Obsession ad from the 90s features then barely known model Kate Moss.

Calvin Klein

Parent groups routinely decried the raunchy ads targeted at teens, like this 90s TV ad that sent sales of the popular CK One fragrance skyrocketing.

Called "child-porn" by youth advocates, this racy 1995 billboard was publicly condemned by President Clinton. It was quickly pulled, but solidified Klein's reputation as a provocateur (and sold a lot of jeans).

Getty

Playful, or pedophilia? Four years after the CK Jeans scandal, Klein claimed these children's underwear ads captured the "warmth and spontaneity" of a family photo album -- but the American Family Association called them pornographic. A mere 24 hours after their release, the ads were yanked.

Before Mark Wahlberg was hanging with an "Entourage" his crew was the Funky Bunch and he was best known for dropping his pants, grabbing his crotch, and posing in his Calvin Klein skivvies.

Calvin Klein

If he didn't shoot them in their skivvies, the designer dressed the young and gorgeous when they were in character. Alicia Silverstone rocked this barely-there CK ensemble in the 1995 movie Clueless. "It's a dress," she told her on-screen dad (played by Dan Hedaya). "Says who?" He stammered -- to which Silverstone famously replied: "Calvin Klein!"

Universal

Klein has never been one to shy away from scandal. The designer is credited with discovering superwaif Kate Moss and turning her into a supermodel in the 90s. When she was busted for cocaine in 2005, he promptly put her to work on another campaign.

Getty Images

You know you've arrived when someone writes an unauthorized biography and "Obsession: The Lives and Times of Calvin Klein," which was published in 1994, chronicled not just the designer's rise to fame, but all the drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex that came with it. The book stopped just short of calling Klein a closeted homosexual and implied his marriage to second wife Kelly Rector was a sham. They divorced in 2006.

Amazon.com

Tags: billboard, calvin-klein, calvin-klein-swim, doutzen-krous, soho-billboard

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)

Darlene Shepard 6-24-2009 @ 2:30PM

Calvin Klein folded under pressure from the public.

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LiLi 6-26-2009 @ 11:29AM

I would be ashamed to take my kids past the former billboard. 3-on-1... what parent would want to have to explain that to their young ones?
In a magazine targeting adults, yes, fine. I might even say it's a really cool photo. But if you put that ad in a teen magazine or, let's say, "Highlights"... tell me parents wouldn't have the right to have a complete fit!
How is having it up on a billboard any different in the eyes of a parent? At least if it were in a magazine I'd be able to decide whether or not I would buy it.
The new add is classic CK and I like it much better. A girl in a bikini... can't really go anywhere to swim without seeing that. (though she is exceptionally beautiful... so there is that that you don't see everyday!)
As far as buying from CK goes... I haven't since I was in my early teens (like 25 yrs ago) and there's a reason for that. I'm just not that wild about the prices or the styles.
Just some food for thought... thanks for letting me rant.

tom13615 6-26-2009 @ 1:37PM

Americans are sooooooooo prudish. The rest of the world laughs at us that we make such a big deal of a wet body. The current billboard is tame compared to the other one. Yes, the previous advertisement was in the wrong local but nothing so outragous that it couldn't be displayed at all. It's nothing you can't see on print, in a Pennys newspaper sale ad or on the beach.

Ben 6-24-2009 @ 2:36PM

I like the new CK billboard with Doutzen Rrous in a bikini she is very pretty & beautiful. I didn't have problem with the Denim ad like a lot of you prudes that support cenorship which is wrong.

Down with Prudes Of America.

carissa 6-24-2009 @ 3:15PM

there's a difference between censorship and tact...just because you can doesn't mean you have to or should.

Simzee 6-24-2009 @ 3:59PM

You are so right. Americans are prudes. Some of these people, like Dorothy, NEED sex. They NEED to reduce their stress.

bondjamesbond 6-24-2009 @ 4:53PM

But I'll bet You would have preferred a couple of fudge packing Homos.

ter 6-26-2009 @ 2:20PM

Down with dumb asses that can't spell

Robert 6-25-2009 @ 7:49AM

Many people believe that Calvin Klein is a pornogapher. Some even suspect that he is a pedophile. Whatever you believe you can be sure that he does not represent what is good for America. His moral fiber is more aligned with Howard Stern,Jane Fonda, Nasty Pelosi,Joan Rivers,Charles Manson and Barney Frank.

T man 6-24-2009 @ 2:45PM

Nothing wrong with it, reminds me of my friday nights, hehe :)

wendi 6-24-2009 @ 2:46PM

CK couldn't have afforded 1/2 the PR that billboard brought them worldwide.

DOROTHY 6-24-2009 @ 2:47PM

THAT BILLBOARD WAS IN POOR TASTE THIS COUNTRYS MORALS ARE GOING TO HELL

Ben 6-24-2009 @ 3:12PM

Get a life prude the billboard was in good taste it isn't in bad taste as you have claim Dorothy which is a lie. Our conutry's morals aren't going to hell either which is another lie.

Debra 6-24-2009 @ 3:27PM

You are so right Dorothy. Ben is clearly a self centered, pleasure seeking, under educated kid.

Simzee 6-24-2009 @ 3:52PM

In case you have'nt noticed....SEX SELLS. (YOU need some)Morals? Do YOU really have any more than the rest of us? I think NOT. Have a nice day.

decencyrocks 6-24-2009 @ 5:08PM

Dorothy is right. Wanting to see a little LESS skin is not necessairly a sign of being a prude. Perhaps we just don't like looking at that crap. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions and there's a time and a PLACE for everything. A huge billboard showing half-naked people engaged in sex is not the 'place'. If you sincerely NEED to see porn or skin or nudity, I'm sure you can surf the net in the comfort of your own dark and lonly room without subjecting the rest of the world to it. As for advertisers; try actually advertising the product which you are trying to sell. Yes, this country is going to hell in a handbasket. Is there anything we SHOULDN'T allow anymore?

starkeschonheit 6-26-2009 @ 1:52PM

Debra: Is pleasure seeking wrong? What do you want us to do, seek unhappiness?

I love my generation.

Pendraggin 6-24-2009 @ 3:07PM

"Jeans for Bi-Boys and the Hags Who Hang on Them: Klein"

Only "boys" pay big bucks for bluejeans. And girls, of course, out to impress other girls and bi-boys. Calvins are for Losers.

kb 6-24-2009 @ 3:11PM

Talk doesn't equal sales. A new CK store openend near my home and I will boycott it. I don't spend money where the advertisers aim at this clientele. They have a choice and so do I. You can walk down the street with your tongue hanging out of your mouth and people with stare, some will talk. Doesn't mean they admire what they see, want to imitate it, or would buy what you advertise. If your goal was to shock, you might have succeeded. I look at businesses that forgot who earned and SAVED....and those who spent it all are no longer the target audience even if the advertisers haven't figured it out yet.