Time magazine recently crowned Calvin Klein ”America`s undisputed pacesetter in turning out erotic ads and commercials.”
And that was even before Time editors had seen Calvin`s latest steamy venture into the world of adrenalin-raising ads.
Anyone who thinks that those Brooke Shields ”Nothin` comes between me and my Calvins” jeans ads were suggestive is in for something more shocking than that, to be sure. And anyone who believes that his underwear ads or the most recent Obsession perfume ads, which show the entangled female and male bodies, are rather racy is in for something more revved up than that, to be sure.
To be sure, indeed.
They ain`t seen nothin` yet.
Klein`s newest ad–launching ”Obsession for the body” products–shows a man kissing a woman`s bare-breasted body. That`s quite enough to shock the more staid and conservative elements of a magazine`s readership, thank you, but there`s more to the ad than merely a sexy, bare picture. The ad happens to have the same type of shadowy figures and blue/black tones as the original Obsession perfume ad and the figures are so positioned that, at first glance, one might imagine that the photo is even more risque than it proves to be at second glance.
There is no question that it will get second glances.
And there is no question that it will be tossed in the wastebasket by some and hung up on locker doors by others.
”It`s very controversial,” says Marshall Field`s John Stabenau, vice president and divisional merchandise manager of cosmetics and fine fragrances, adding, ”I think it will sell merchandise.”
But even though Klein made a personal appearance at Field`s when Obsession perfume was launched in Chicago, Stabenau hedges on whether Field`s will run the new ad when the bath products line is introduced in March. He doubts it.
Klein, however, says that there has been no trouble whatsoever in placing the ads in publications such as Vogue, Bazaar, W or New York. But he concedes that he just might encounter some trouble after the ads appear.
”If you judge by my past history, we generally do manage to stir up a little trouble,” Klein says. ”I don`t go looking for it, but it seems to find me.”
Poor Calvin.
But poor Calvin is smiling.
Then he explains quite earnestly that the ad is, well, quite logical.
”My ads are always a reflection of what I think we`re trying to sell. Obsession perfume has been a huge success, and the woman who uses it doesn`t want to use a body lotion with a different scent. So we`re now making Obsession-scented products for the body–oils, a glistener, dusting powder, lotion, soap and such–so it only seems natural to show a woman`s body, and to show it in the most beautiful way that we can.”
Who can disagree with that?
Klein says: ”The new ad is–and has to be–consistent with the Obsession perfume ad. The same tones, the same mood. Very sensual. Very sexual. Very beautiful. Seductive. Provocative.”
Then he adds, and this is where he is indeed very logical, ”When the name of the product is Obsession, the ad for it has to be something that is very powerful. The very word obsession suggests certain things. It wouldn`t make sense for the ad to show a girl running through wheat fields.
”Then the question becomes, `How do you do it?` I try to suggest a kind of sensuality that I feel very strong about but that is sometimes very upsetting to other people. I look at this ad and I see a very beautiful photograph, but I don`t know what the reaction of others will be.”
The reaction of others–whether it be praise or outcry–is going to do exactly what Calvin wants it to do: Make his ads, his products, his name, his face even more recognized than they already are, if that`s possible. According to Video Storyboard Tests, a New York City firm that rates the 10 most noticed print ads, Marlboro has been edged out by Klein. Time magazine quotes Dave Vadehra, president of Video Storyboard Tests: ”Calvin Klein has managed to do in three years what it took Marlboro 20 years to do.”
STRAIGHT TO THE TOP
There is no question that Klein climbed–make that catapulted–to that top spot through provocative or erotic advertising.
But Klein maintains that what he and photographer Bruce Weber do is
”more than just an erotic ad. I really strive to do something that is very artistic and very creative. The ads are not just about being erotic. That would be a cheap way of trying to get attention. I think we do better than that.”
Then Klein, who wasn`t born yesterday and didn`t become a multimillionaire just by being boyishly cute and making great coats, says:
”There are hundreds of pages in a magazine and I do want people to notice what we`re doing. That`s the point of advertising. If it`s going to go unnoticed, then you`ve failed. I have an opportunity as well as an obligation to do something that people will notice, that will stop them as they come to that page. And, as they look at it, hopefully, they will see something that is very beautiful, something that will go beyond the obvious. To some, it can be shocking or suggestive. But I don`t think people notice it because of that. There is more to it than that. It is a very beautiful photo. I think that`s why people notice my ads.”
Why of course, Calvin, if you say so. —
