Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein is famous for his outrageous advertisements and commercials. He uses sex and gender stereotypes to sell his product. Very rarely does he use anything else. Even his child advertisements convey a sense of gender roles and replication of adulthood. The advertisement above is recently new and received a lot of public opinion. Of course, this is what Klein wants. I heard from several online blogs and news reports that this advertisement was created to target Klein's younger audience. So I, as a young woman, must crave sexual activity with three men WHILE wearing my Calvin Jeans. Oh yeah.
My analysis of this ad involves using the work of M. Gigi Durham, titled, "The Lolita Effect." Essentially the book talks about how young women are sexualized in the media. Klein is known for using barely legal or underage models. When he uses these models, he has historically portrayed them in a pornographic fashion. His use of younger models has created this image of what young women are taught and socialized to be. From a very young age, girls are shown images of what femininity is. Durham writes that these images are over-sexualized and therefore serve as "sex bait" for young women. And what with Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, and Willa Ford running around, this bait becomes normalized in the eye of the beholder. Klein uses these kinds of hyper-sexual images in his work to create a feel of what his brand symbolizes. So being young and sexual is what everyone should want to be when they see his ads. There is nothing wrong with being young and sexual- there is something wrong with being young and sexual because Calvin Klein tells us to. The sad thing is, is that this sexualization is sooo NORMAL. It should not be. The fact that the girl in the ad above looks like she is sixteen doesn't bother a lot of people. Why is that? Because compared to other ads, commercials, and media forms- it "isn't that bad." Well the cultural effect is bad because the ad is only one of many that lends itself as an example of how to reach young people.
The following youtube clip further explains this controversy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n9bTSwgCIc