Take It Off: Sex in Advertising

"Calvin Klein and Abercrombie and Fitch: Pioneers or Perverts?"

By Jen Berecek

____Pushing the envelope seems to be the main objective in advertising today. Although using shocking, and sometimes explicit material to draw attention is not a new fad, it has however become a rising trend upon multiple advertising agencies today. With each year, ad campaigns have become continuously more risqué, each jumping upon the sexual campaigning bandwagon. Many credit designer Calvin Klein for taking sexual marketing to the level it is today. The newest addition to this exploitative family is clothing retailer Abercrombie and Fitch, with its outrageous Christmas Quarterly, packaged in plastic because of the nude photos. These two factors may have taken sex in advertising to a completely new level, and even more shocking than before.

____Designer Calvin Klein is known for his very noticeable ads, even years ago. “In 1980 he featured a 15 year old Brooke Shields purring ‘Nothing comes between me and my Calvin’s.’” (Calvin Klein: A Case Study n.p.). This raised many eyebrows and skyrocketed Klein to the most talked about designer. Throughout the years and with children posing for his debatable ads as young as 15 years old, Klein was the target of a US Justice Department Investigation in 1995, questioning if some of his ads were child pornography. Klein’s response to this particular outcry:

“These campaign ads are not pornographic. The ads were intended to convey the idea that glamour is an inner quality that can be found in regular people in an ordinary setting; it is not something that is exclusive to movie stars and models” (Calvin Klein; A Case Study n.p.).

____However this comment also came from the man who said, “Jeans are about sex.” Klein is not alone in his use of controversial images in advertising. The theory that sex sells is nothing new. “…American culture is permeated with sex…”(Ramos, n.p.). Sexual marketing is taking a step further with retailer Abercrombie and Fitch.

____Known for their tight fitting clothing and suggestive slogans and sayings appearing on shirts and the like, they have shocked many with the production of their Holiday Quarterly (2002). The front cover shows a nude male and nude female on a bed, with numerous nude pictures on the first 117 pages.” Abercrombie & Fitch is selling porn, plain and simple," says Don Wildmon, chairman of American Family Association. "This is a company that markets itself to young people, and their message is one of promoting immoral personal and social behavior (AFA Action, n.p.). This holiday catalog first breaking the mold in 2002 more closely resembled a pornography magazine than a catalog for clothing. The pictures had nothing to do with the clothing. A spokesperson for Abercrombie and Fitch was quoted by saying:

“These photos depict young, healthy, presumably red-blooded young Americans posing, frolicking, and generally living what could be considered the ‘good life.’ They do this in Abercrombie clothes, sometimes; other times they do this out of Abercrombie Clothes. It’s the ‘out of that’s drawing the ire out of Uncle Sam”(Collins, n.p.).

____Most recently Abercrombie and Fitch was criticized for their production of thong underwear, which were targeted at girls ages 7-14. The underwear have pictures of cherries, and also carry the sayings of “eye candy,” “wink-wink,” and “kiss me.” “The underwear was mean to be light hearted and cute” (Ramos, n.p.).

____Advertising today has a broader acceptance and a looser standard. If sex didn’t sell, no one would advertise it. Both Calvin Klein and Abercrombie and Fitch learned this lesson early on. Each has revolutionized their corporations and the fashion industries of today and continue to create shocking and sometimes questionable ads. They may be disturbing and exploitive, but if our population wasn’t so eager to gorge themselves on the advertising and provocative creations, it wouldn’t carry the appeal it has today.

- JB