Regulators Find a New Way to Ban Calvin Klein’s FKA Twigs Ad

British advertising regulators have reconsidered a controversial decision to ban a Calvin Klein ad featuring musician FKA Twigs on the basis that it presented her as “a stereotypical sexual object.”

The billboard in question featured the singer with a shirt draped across her body, revealing part of one breast and the side of her buttocks, along with the brand’s famous tagline “Calvins or nothing.”

The U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has reversed its original ruling, concluding the ads were unlikely to cause offense on the basis of objectification. However, it still decreed the imagery to be “overtly sexual,” and said the billboards should be banned so under 16s could not see them in an “untargeted medium.”

The partial about-turn comes amid a debate about the censorship and double standards placed on women and women’s issues in advertising.

FKA Twigs protested the original ban herself, pointing to “other campaigns past and current” of a similar nature that remained uncensored, likely encompassing the high-profile current men’s Calvin Klein underwear campaign fronted by U.S. actor Jeremy Allen White, which depict him in a pair of boxers against the New York skyline.

‘Double standards’ for women

In January, the ASA ordered Calvin Klein to pull the posters after two complaints from members of the public, who argued the ad “inappropriately sexualized the artist.”

At the time, the ASA agreed. It ruled the ads centered on FKA Twigs’ nudity and physical features rather than her clothing, and said the campaign presented the “Two Weeks” singer as “a stereotypical sexual object.”

Shortly after the ban, FKA Twigs took to Instagram to issue a public response, in which she called out what she views as “double standards” in the industry.

“I do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me. I see a beautiful strong woman of color whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine,” she wrote on Jan. 11, captioning a picture of the still-banned ad campaign. “In light of reviewing other campaigns, past and current, of this nature, I can’t help but feel there are some double standards here.”

Now, the watchdog has made the unusual decision of reversing its original decision after a close examination of the wider campaign, which also featured two images of model Kendall Jenner laying down with her arms over her bare chest.

The ASA said “the manner in which both women were posed, their partial dress, facial expression and nudity,” meant all of the ads in question “contained images of women that were sexualized to a degree.”

Despite rethinking its original reason for a ban, the regulator still considered the billboard to be “overtly sexual” based on the combination of FKA Twigs’ “seductive gaze, pouting lips, and the positioning of the shirt revealing the side of one breast and the side of her bottom.”

It has now republished its original statement, retaining its ban on the ad, this time on the basis that it was “not suitable for display in an untargeted medium.”

Though the ASA has republished rulings before based on appeals from brands, it confirmed to ADWEEK that this occasion marked the first time a decision made under its guidelines around objectification had been overturned.

A spokesperson told ADWEEK: “The decision to revisit our original ruling took place in the context of the significant strength of public feeling, including views expressed by FKA Twigs, in response to our findings, but was driven by our concern that our rationale for banning the ad was substantially flawed.”

“We wanted to examine whether we had used inconsistent wording and if we had made the right judgement about objectification in the ad,” they added.

After “careful thought,” the ASA’s council (the independent jury that decides whether U.K. ads break the rules) decided the image was not sexually explicit, and that the ad presented FKA Twigs as confident and in control and, therefore, “she had not been objectified.”

Marketing provocateur Calvin Klein, known for its sensual photoshoots starring celebrities from Kate Moss to Justin Bieber, joined FKA Twigs in support against the ASA’s original decision.

“The images were not vulgar and were of two confident and empowered women who had chosen to identify with the Calvin Klein brand, and the ads contained a progressive and enlightened message,” said a spokesperson in response to the ruling.