On my way into work this morning, I heard about the Calvin Klein Jeans billboard posted on the side of a building in New York City. The billboard displays a topless girl lying on a topless guy while kissing another topless guy. While those three are on a couch, there is another guy who looks passed out on the floor with his jeans unbuttoned. In the top left corner of the billboard is simple lettering: calvinkleinjeans.com. (I found a decent picture in this article. Thanks to WPIX in NYC for posting.)
The discussion surrounds whether or not this is inappropriate for a New York City billboard. I have no problems with people voicing their opinions, and I do not necessarily agree that the billboard is appropriate for all eyes, but the outrage is directed toward the wrong parties. Calvin Klein (especially Jeans) has always pushed the limit of "appropriate" advertising. This is no exception. As far as they are concerned, it is a highly successful campaign. For the price of one billboard (large as it may be), they got their ad out to millions of people everywhere. I would be willing to bet that the advertising team for Calvin Klein sat around a table, discussing this exact scenario: contraversial campaign = people talk about it = more eyes on CK Jeans ad = more eyes on calvinkleinjeans.com. I cannot blame people for doing their jobs well. I guarantee you that Calvin Klein will not lose sales from this ad. If anything, they will have more eyes on their site, and more eyes on the site usually means more sales.
The issue here is really with the billboard space and the people responsible for allowing this to happen. Any advertiser will push limits as long as there is freedom to do so. The complaints should be taken to the city or the county or whoever cares enough to listen and do something about it. My blog is not a political commentary, so this is where I stop. I'm just saying... this is nothing new... and we've all given them exactly what they want.
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