A ban on a Calvin Klein advert featuring FKA Twigs deemed “overtly sexual” has been partially revised.
Earlier this year a poster featuring the singer was banned after a ruling claimed it was “likely to cause serious offence” by objectifying women.
The Spring 2023 poster featured the artist posing with a denim shirt draping over one shoulder, leaving the unclothed side profile of her body exposed. It came with the tagline “Calvins or nothing”.
However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) went on to receive two complaints about the campaign image, each arguing that the portrayal of Twigs was “overly sexualised” and caused offence by objectifying women. These were then upheld by the ASA.
Twigs hit back by insisting she did not see a “stereotypical sexual object”, adding: “I see a beautiful strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine.”
In a new blog post published today (March 6), the ASA said that it has “carefully reviewed” the original decision.
The statement read: “We have made clear that while we think the image of FKA Twigs was overtly sexual (though not sexually explicit), the ad presented her as confident and in control and, therefore, she had not been presented as a stereotypical sexual object.”
It maintained that it was still “not suitable for display in an untargeted medium, a poster, where anyone could see it” including children.
The ASA said it was “not deaf to the commentary that surrounds our decision making”.
“We’re genuinely interested in hearing what people think and have to say. And we’re not afraid to challenge our own thinking and change our decisions if we think we’ve got it wrong,” the post added.
The authority continued that “while the external criticism was important and gave us pause for thought, it was not in fact the reason we revisited our ruling”.
It added: “That reason was our unease about the wording in the ruling explaining our rationale for our decision that FKA Twigs had been objectified. We thought it was inconsistent in its treatment of the three posters and was therefore flawed.”
The other posters referenced are two featuring Kendall Jenner, which were not banned.
In her original response, Twigs said there were “some double standards”, adding: “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.”