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Calvin Klein billboard showing threesome not universally loved (pic)

*YAWN* Big deal. Tom Ford's advertisements are far more creative and suggestive than this tame scene.

The existence of the ad in a public place suggests that the behavior depicted is socially acceptable. It is not. Few men want a wife who has a reputation like that.

Not to sound like a woman or man hater but this is skank. Just goes to show what image and class of people they are marketing to. I have yes seen worse but that does not make this any better or less wrong. When are marketing and advertisers going to get the point you do not have to look desperate to sell a product or service just give us the name or what it does and be done with it let all the current methods of drama, sexual innuendo, and if you do not have this you will die theory go they are so old and tacky.

I find it a little offensive but because people are talking about it, the ad has done its job. It's risen above the advertising clutter and gotten the companies name recognized. As they say no publicity is bad publicity. True they go past what's socially acceptable but think about what advertisers do…they get the name known….well it worked Calvin Klein is spattered across the news and discussion boards. Congrats to them for doing their job. Just sucks that this is what advertising has to do to get known. The fact that sex sells and society is fine with that has made the average sexual ads pop less. This is what they had to do to get known, it worked…it a bit much but it did what they wanted. To Get Noticed!

I hope I never have to explain a billboard like this to my young daughters.

If Calvin Klein wants to limit his ads to this type of demographics, then he should limit his advertising to magazines, instead of making soft porn available to children. I wouldn't buy a brand that I would be ashamed to have kids ask about.

Let's be honest here, this girl (who looks more like a young teen than a woman) looks like she's being passed around by 3 guys for sex, simple as that. If not, then where's her shirt and bra? Why is the guy in the floors pants undone? Why is she laying on one guy half undressed and kissing another guy at the same time? I ask these obvious questions simply because people like to pretend things like this are ambiguous, “It could mean a lot of different things, she doesn't HAVE to be having sex with these guys, thats just your perception of this picture, not everyone's.”. That may be true, but sexual ambiguity is most often lost on the young among us. While some adults try to seem artsy, children usually take things like this billboard at face value, and if Calvin Klein thinks it's hip enough to put it on a billboard, then why shouldn't a young girl give herself away to multiple partners at once, what's the harm? I don't think that even the tragically hip among us could deny the true honesty of the answer to THAT question. I'm no Bible thumper, I AM a man, an artist in fact, and I agree that some things are meant for adults. At the same time, we have to remember that there's a place for proper place for things like this. Men's magazines perhaps hits this demographic better than most I can think of. It is most certainly out of place way up in the air for every young eye searching the sky to see. Those eyes watch everything we do very closely, and what we show them plays a big part in their perceptions of right and wrong in this world, and there IS a difference. It isn't as subjective as we'd like to make ourself believe it is. Hopefully Calvin Klein will do the right thing and pull this billboard and it will end up in Maxim or Playboy. Sorry to say, but my short 33 years on this earth, I have less and less faith in people doing the right thing. Especially in the people who think it's their job to tell US what we are supposed to think.

Type your comment here. I find this ad to be completely inappropriate and pornagraphic. To put this kind of display in public for children and teenagers to view is shocking and appalling. What are you advertising, sex or jeans???? Tell your ad executives that they should work for Hustler! You have lost 4 customer right here right now!!!!

There are a myriad of reasons you shouldn't do something just because you can or just because it will benefit your end goal. If your point is that, because they're advertisers, they did the “right” thing here by one-upping all the rest of the risque, trashy billboards littering the air to win the attention of people, then maybe you should reevaluate your understanding of the definitions of “right” and “proper” because they are NOT always interchangeable. They could gain even more attention by showing a beheading, or a rape, more people would look at it, but they SHOULDN'T do it. Sticking to beauty, style, and sex appeal is fine, but you have to know where the line should be drawn, much in the same way a political figure might point out the flaws of another candidate, but shouldn't assassinate his opponent to win the election. There ARE boundaries. If the argument is “no publicity is bad publicity”, that boils down to our society and how it's become so immune to anything shocking. I just hope there's an ebb to all this flow, and one day, when NOTHING can stimulate our senses anymore, we will be shocked and awed at things like a fully clothed woman. Selling sex is easy, the hard part is to make something uniquely interesting WITHOUT resorting to an old standby like soft core porn. They aren't brilliant for making this sell, they just don't have any original ideas left.

This is not a good thing and I can get with just about anything, but people come on this is bit to stank even for me. She looks like a nasty teen whore. With very little class and respect for her self. If she was my kid I would beat that ass till the break of dawn. But I do not worry about that because any kid of mine would even entertain such jacked-up thing.

This is most definately an inappropriate advertisement for general public display. As one of the comments suggests, perhaps is would be most appropriate in a men's magazine. The depiction make me feel as if the advertisers are suggesting that a barely dressed woman, laying around and kissing on three half dressed men is a societal norm. It is not a societal norm; it is a behavior we do not want to promote. This is displayed so matter of fact and casual. This is the stuff that happens in a back room that no one talks about. Have they no sense of ethical behavior in their marketing? We are a media driven society that is frequently not done or produced for the benefit of society. The advertisers and the poor excuse for an icon, Calvin Klein, do not appear to care what the long term effect on our society is as long as they make their mighty dollars. This is skanky, projects poor choices and morals, and should be posted up next to a billboard about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases or a “fight teen pregnacy” billboard. It's all about Consumerism and the choices that consumers make. Do we allow the media to drive what is appropriate – knowing it is only about the bottom line for them? Or do we take a piece of ownership here and pass over Mr. Klein's products. We don't have to accept this behavior from the likes of Klein and others – responsible consumerism is an option. I'll not by another Klein product and will discourage others from it as well.

Raunchy porn like this shouldn't be allowed on billboards. Simple as that.

The fact that Calvin Klein thinks this kind of image is ok says alot about our society today. What's wrong is now right and what's right is now wrong.

i think its sexy and those that judge are uptight and live in a box

I will NEVER buy anything Calvin Klein again. Calvin Klein you repulse me.

The question isn't whether or not the ad is sexy, I don't think there's a single person who can't make that distinction. The judgement that has to be made is whether ads with this much blatantly sexual content should be allowed to be put in broad daylight on a billboard for any and every one to see, including children and teens who are at a very impressionable age. Some people think child pornography is “sexy”, but that doesn't mean it should be allowed. I see nothing wrong with adults viewing pornography, but NOT children. People should be given the choice to see things like this billboard, but it should be adults and adults only. If you think that children shouldn't be blocked from seeing pornography, or sexually suggestive material, or that trying to keep things like this out of their sight makes you seem uptight, then I think we've found the poster child for what's wrong with our society. Stop worrying about somebody thinking you're not cool and do the right thing. Playing follow the leader only makes you a follower, and no matter how hard that is for you to wrap your head around, being a follower isn't cool.

my sister hangs out with those guys …they only have sex with each other and occaisionally other guys so its ok i guess.

that makes me wanna buy a pair of CK jeans!!!!!!!!! and fuck a teen skank
one word? HOT

I still say it is a sad day when one of the only ways a corporation can sell a product is by this method of advertising. This is just so third-world sleazy. What ever happen to put your product out without all the glitz, glamor, and let it sell itself are products and services not good enough anymore or is the markets just flooded with repeats of the same old stuff over and over?

If it takes all of this to sell a pair of jeans, maybe young people should buy Levi's. This is DISGUSTING!!!!!

whats the difference between this add and the covers of mags like maxim… well minus the fact that they are not plastered in SOHO… they arent even in their underwear, funlly bottom covered. shocking, yes, maybe. but its fashion.

Show me a cover of Maxim, or even Playboy for that matter, where there are people making out on the front of it. I've been a Playboy subscriber for the last 10 years and I can't recall 1 single issue that had a cover as suggestive as this one. In stores that sell these magazines they are usually on the shelf, not accessible to children, (certainly not open to the pages that show a 3some) even wrapped in plastic with a black band around them so you can only see the one girls face on the cover. As I've said over and over, I don't see why people don't understand this. I'm an artist and the majority of my work deals with nude women, but there is a place for that and it's NOT hanging in the air 50 feet high for every child who cuts their eyes over to look at. It disturbs me to no end that in our society we keep pushing the envelop on whats considered racy and what is appropriate for children. We then wonder why teen pregnancy, abortion, rape, VD, and sex crimes continue to rise without a hint of irony. I'm not arguing that this billboard will cause some teenager to go rape someone after he sees it. I'm not arguing that this billboard will cause a young girl to get pregnant because she sees it. I AM concerned that impressionable young women will see a glamorous company name like Calvin Klein on an ad like this and think that this is something that the “beautiful people” find socially acceptable, therefore it's OK to give yourself away to many different partners. Paint it anyway you want to, but kids grow up seeking the acceptance of their peers “what's cool”, and they look to adults for guidance. When we allow things like this billboard to go unchecked, it's the same as telling them it's OK to do whatever they see in that picture, because we don't hide it, we don't condemn what these people are doing, and if it's good enough for Calvin Klein, it's good enough for you too. Maybe you want your daughter to grow up thinking it's fine to fornicate with 3 different guys as long as it's “fashionable”, but I certainly don't. In the dangerous times we live in, with venereal diseases running rampant, children being born and left in dumpsters because nobody wants them, kids committing suicide because they feel like an outcast for not fitting in, I think it's not only imperative that we try early and often to make sure they know wrong from right, but its our MOST important job. People seem to be worried so much about saving the environment, but who are we saving it for? Future generations need the frame work from day one to grow up and be productive members of society, a society that all too soon we will be living in and expecting proper care from under these same children in our final years. A troubled, unstable past lends itself to a troubled, unstable future. I'm just trying to take care of myself by taking care of the others, I think more people should do the same. If that makes me a square, then so be it. I have a conscience, and it won't let me keep my silence on things like this, I'd rather live my life so people will say about me, he always did what he thought was right and he lived by his moral compass, not that I was trendy or fashionable. Is it all going to change over taking this billboard down? No, but it's gotta start somewhere, and just because this won't solve the problem doesn't mean we shouldn't do the right thing.

Are your sure we are not related or have in some way been in the same circles because that is the same way my husband and I think. Yes he also used to get the Playboy and I liked the stories but in no way would I let them anywhere our kids or any kid that had access to our home. I find no problem with the human body yet find the way marketing and advertisers display it disgusting and risky behavior. How many of these companies pass out physicals of these models and the the status of personal relationships they have because we all know with such public display and sexual contact it will and does catch up. People have a false ideal of what good advertising is anymore.

Well, I'd like to think we are part of the silent majority and more of us feel the same way ; ). I honestly don't think there is ANYthing on this earth more beautiful, more complex, and more visually appealing to look at than the female body. It doesn't have to be the Barbie Doll type, women's bodies are uniquely and beautifully made. This is why I have spent most of my life trying to recreate it in various forms of media. I think it shows poor taste to use a model (a very YOUNG looking model) in a VERY suggestive situation to sell ANY product. Let's go ahead and call it what it is, it's extremely provocative because it shows what appears to be a half naked teen girl engaging in/potentially engaging in sex with 3 guys. They are targeting the people above who think it's “just fashion” “it's hot” etc. These are the people who either don't have kids, are kids themselves, or are too worried about growing up and looking “old” because they think it makes them seem less hip. There is a place to be hip, and it's NOT around your kids. Think back and remember all the friends you had growing up, the ones who had the “hip” parents. Those kids either wound up resenting their parents for trying to be their pal instead of their parent, in trouble, or dead. At least thats the way all mine ended up. Raising a child correctly is hard enough work without the added pressure of trying to keep up with them, socially. You're a parent, you're ALWAYS gonna be uncool to your kids unless you do what you should and the kids grow up to respect you for looking out for their best interests and not because you wore the same clothes as them. That actually makes you seem kinda strange in an “I don't wanna grow up” kind of way. Have your adult magazines, have your porn, enjoy it. You've grown up to be a grown up, enjoy the things that adults should enjoy. Let a kid be a kid. They grow up so fast anyway, there's no need in speeding it up any more. There is a saying that goes something like, without the dark, there can be no light. If kids get used to seeing things like this growing up, then nothing is shocking to them. They become jaded and bored at an early age. Boredom leads to lots of problems that they will make for themselves. I should know, I grew up a “hip” kid who stayed in trouble most of the time. My friends didn't make it this long, I somehow survived it all and I feel like there is a reason for that. I think this is part of my giving back. It's very important to me.

Yea I have to agree people these days focus too much on looking good and feeling good and either forget or have not been told when they get older nature will kick in and most of the body will and does head south if you know what I mean not matter what work or prevention is done. I keep telling people this all the time people should focus more on the inside and how they treat people and how they contribute in their community after-all beauty is only skin deep when that fails your soul is all you have left if you have no soul or it is dark or evil you will die a lonely person or a early death.

Awesome,

An interesting way of expressing yourself.

Rhonda

That looks like a 4-some to me. Big deal. Ho hum. Tempest in a teapot.

What was the quote from Little Women? There is nothing as provocative (?) to a man as a woman enjoying herself.

If anyone can think of the exact quote, please post it.