We need to talk about Jeremy Allen White’s tighty-whities
Joan London’s Kirsty Hathaway has studied Calvin Klein’s Spring campaign suspiciously closely this week. She asks if women are showing double standards in sexualizing Jeremy Allen White, or is there something deeper, and frankly funnier, going on?
Last week, my WhatsApp group for mums lit up with unprecedented ferocity.
And no, it wasn’t about missing football socks or some other monotony; it was an extensive conversation about Jeremy Allen White’s new Calvin Klein ad. Because let’s face it – there’s a lot to discuss.
“You’ve got to check the comments!” one cried.
And, oh, the comments.
“Why is this video ten hours long?”
“A tear just went down my leg.”
“What a fantastic day to have eyeballs.”
“You grossly underpaid him for this, no matter the final figure.”
I could go on, but I’ll let you enjoy the threads for yourself.
The reason I cite the mums’ WhatsApp group is none of these women work in advertising/marketing/ fashion.
Advertisement
Yet they had all seen it and discussed it with their colleagues, friends and partners (we’ll come on to partners later.) It’s an ad that got EVERYBODY talking. Young. Old. Men. Women. Gay. Straight. When was the last time that happened?
Calvin Klein has long dominated (and even created) the tighty-whities market thanks to unashamedly injecting sex into its ads. Marky Mark’s 1992 campaign was culture-defining. It created (non-digital) talkability. Calvin Klein knows what it’s doing. This is a beautiful formula. But I believe it’s a formula with a 2024 edge. Humor me a moment because I believe there’s humor in this. Nothing about what this campaign has sparked is accidental.
Advertisement
Let’s discuss the components: Casting: Jennifer Wilson made a poignant observation in her New Yorker essay, “a time stamp of our own historical moment, a period of foiled pleasures and desires left on simmer.”
Unlike with Bieber, Jacob Elordi, Jamie Dornan and others who have dropped trou for the brand, this was a surprise. Who knew under those chef whites lay what we see in this advert?
Track: ‘You don’t own me’. Come on!! There is comedy and humor laced in this. Calvin Klein marketers are not unaware of the conversations this campaign will start. This track, in my humble opinion, is playing on the male gaze.
Art direction: Photographer/director Mert going solo brings his and his long-standing creative partner Marcus’s trademark fantasy and suggestion to the table. Making this feel less American – despite being an American brand, shot in an American city with an American actor. Ironic? Provocative? Well, it’s not accidental.
Styling: Emmanuel Alt, my hero. The nonchalant – and quite random – undressing feels so obvious and intentional. As if this is how we all underdress post work. Shoes and socks with just underwear. This cries no fucks given. I believe there’s an intentional tongue-in-cheek in all of it. Maybe the humor is that they knew they would make us eat our woke hats.
Suggested newsletters for you
OK, it’s time for the elephant in the room.
Hypocrisy
As the hugely entertaining chat died down on the WhatsApp group, I simply said ‘imagine if this was a woman – I would be raging at these comments”.
And so it began. Everybody was having a conversation with their partners about the double standards as the collective mum group ogled their screens. Their partners are confused as to why women have the right, and they are deemed inappropriate if they dare comment on similar objectification. The clincher, however, is that the ASA banned the FKA Twigs Calvin Klein campaign.
If you haven’t read the statement from the ASA, brace yourself: “The ad used nudity centered on FKA Twigs’s physical features rather than the clothing, to the extent that it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object.”
So, just to be clear, White’s campaign is focused on the clothing and not on nudity or his physical features – and he is definitely not portrayed as a sexual object. ASA, what alternative planet are you on?
FKA Twigs quite rightly took to social media to show her disdain for the decision.
I’ve long been a feminist, yet I found the comment “a tear just ran down my leg” utterly hilarious. Yet, if I saw a man comment something similar on a half-naked picture of a woman, I would be appalled.
This made me think – and this is something bigger than advertising – is this because women have long been sexualized, and it can, and has, felt intimidating, threatening and even scary? Or is it that women have long been used as sex objects to sell products? A marketing tool.
When asked about his being objectified in Barbie, Ryan Gosling said, “It’s our time as men to be on the receiving end of the stick.”
Maybe he’s right.
Either way, this campaign (and FKA Twigs) is simply chef’s kiss.