FKA twigs has responded after a Calvin Klein ad she appeared in was banned in the UK by the Advertising Standards Authority. In a post on Instagram, twigs writes, “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.”
She continues, “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 BBC reports that the Advertising Standards Authority “found the ad was likely to cause serious offence by objectifying women.” According to their ruling, which came after two people complained that the images were “overly sexualised,” the “image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised,” and as a result “presented her as a stereotypical sexual object.” “We therefore concluded the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause serious offence,” the ASA continued.
Images from the same campaign of Kendall Jenner were ruled acceptable by the ASA, who said they didn’t focus on her body “in a manner that portrayed her as a sexual object.”
Calvin Klein defended both ads in a statement to the Guardian, 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.”
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