Anyone who knows the intimate details of my life would know that I am pretty far removed from a prude. In my heyday, I was a wild "try anything" (and everything) type.
As a parent, however, I find the Calvin Klein orgy ad campaign offensive. The company has posted a giant billboard that intimates a young woman is involved in an orgy with three men.
The woman in the billboard is topless, with her breasts artfully shielded. She lies on top of a topless man and is reaching up to kiss another topless man. A third man lies on the floor, unzipping his tight jeans, likely because they are starting to become very uncomfortable about now.
I am not opposed to people having an orgy if they want. Adults can engage in any sort of consensual sexual activity they desire, as far as I am concerned. What I am opposed to is having advertisers decide for me and other parents when (if) we have to talk to our children about unconventional sex.
I have always told my sons that sex is a private, special activity that two people who care about one another make their own decisions about when it is right for them. Now I know that there is a good chance they will grow up to have casual, nonspecial sex. Given the prevalence of diseases and the risk of teen pregnancy, however, it is something I prefer to discourage. This billboard is a blatant contradiction of that message, and it is too big for me to hide nor can I change the channel.
I am not ready to answer questions from a 10-year-old about whether it's normal for girls to be with three men at once or to decide mom must be wrong about sex. Nor am I ready for my 12-year-old to find it so titillating he decides to search for more--and more explicit versions--of this on the Internet.
If I had a daughter, I would find it even more difficult. Does this make it harder for young women to resist pressure from guys to do this sort of thing? "This is what hot girls do!" the ad says. "You exist for the sexual pleasure of men!" the ad says.
Maybe I am flawed as a parent for not wanting to have conversations about this, at least not yet. I do talk with my sons about sex and birth control and diseases. I don't talk to them about orgies, gangbangs, or bukkake.
This ad also appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine, where it was no doubt viewed (and possible torn out of the book) by more than one young person.
Is this really what someone has to do to sell jeans? I guess the advertising agency achieved its objective, to draw attention to Calvin Klein.
UPDATE:
My favorite comment below is by Sychotic1--so funny that it needs to be highlighted--on one possible interpretation of this ad:
"Buy these jeans and you will get a hot girl, but you will have to share."