FKA Twigs is facing censorship over her appearance in a Calvin Klein advertisement in the United Kingdom.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned an ad featuring the singer wearing a denim shirt wrapped around her and exposing the right side of her body. The organization claimed that the “image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised,” and that her “physical features” had “presented her as a stereotypical sexual object.”
“We therefore concluded the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause serious offense,” they added.
The ad’s banning comes after only two people complained that the images were “overly sexualized” and objectified women. Additional complaints were lobbed at Kendall Jenner, who appeared in the same campaign that debuted last March, though the ASA didn’t find the same issue as it had with Twigs.
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Twigs responded to the ban in a post on Instagram, writing: “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. 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.”
Calvin Klein defended the Twigs ad in a statement, claiming her poses were “natural and neutral.” “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.”
Some have already pointed the double standard being applied to Twigs, particularly after Calvin Klein recently rolled out its shirtless campaign with actor Jeremy Allen White.
