A New Obsession
Imagine a tan and, yes, athletic-looking Kate Moss backpacking in balmy weather with a group of fresh-faced friends, one of whom has an American flag wrapped around his pack, another casually playing a harmonica.
Then picture six hunky guys clad in khakis and tank tops pushing a cart loaded with potatoes out of the mud, in a dreamlike farm setting.
These are the latest images from the trend-setting Calvin Klein, a designer notorious for shocking and sometimes horrifying the public with his naughty, edgy advertising.
But these days, Klein wants to project more upbeat and wholesome images, mirroring what he considers to be the mood of the late ‘90s.
“It’s a feeling, a mood in the world today,” Klein said. “People are upbeat; the economy is stronger. I think young people, who are always looking for something new and interesting, are going to relate to this approach.”
Some regard the new print ad campaign, which will make its debut in next month’s magazines, as a dramatic departure for the New York fashion maverick who has been accused in the past of promoting everything from “heroin chic” to “kiddie porn.”
“I would describe it as a 180-degree turn from his last major campaigns,” said Robert Gustafson, a professor of advertising at Ball State University in Indiana who has written reports critical of past Klein campaigns. “He’s done such bizarre, shocking and outlandish stuff, so I think by being so straightforward and simple, he’s still trying to shock us.”
Still, many of the new color and black-and-white ads show models looking less playful than serious, a hallmark of Klein’s previous advertising. And although the campaign focuses on groups of young men and women doing things together, the models in many ads appear frozen in trances.
“It’s just another chic fashion statement propped in an outdoor setting,” said Carol Moog, a consulting psychologist in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., who specializes in the psychology of advertising. “At a psychological level, I don’t see much of a shift. These people are still pretty narcissistic, and there’s no real intimacy between them.”
Klein’s new campaign, shot by fashion photographer Steven Meisel, is expected to draw public scrutiny because of the designer’s reputation for influencing trends and for using shock value to sell his products.
In 1980, some television stations refused to air a Klein jeans commercial in which Brooke Shields said, “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.” Interestingly enough, this year the company plans to reintroduce the very same dark-colored jean that Shields made famous years ago.
In 1995, Klein launched a campaign that Gustafson describes as “the most controversial advertising campaign in this country’s history.”
The ads, which Klein eventually pulled, showed young people in various sexually suggestive positions. Some groups criticized the ads as being “kiddie porn,” which prompted an investigation by the FBI for any violation of child pornography laws. (The Justice Department found no evidence of wrongdoing.)
Even President Clinton singled out Klein’s ads that year, saying, “It is wrong to manipulate these children, to use them for commercial benefit.”
Klein was accused of advocating “heroin chic” in a later campaign by depicting skinny, dazed-looking models that some critics said resembled drug addicts.
The negative publicity swirling around Klein’s advertising hasn’t hindered sales. In fact, it probably helped. The company’s retail sales have increased steadily over the last few years, totaling about $5.3 billion worldwide in 1997.
Klein said his advertising has always reflected the mood of the times. The new campaign, he said, was not done to appease his critics, but to highlight his merchandise.
“While I am always interested in people’s reaction to our work, and that includes advertising, this change is really a reflection of our design,” he said. “We want the advertising to communicate the story of the product, and that’s what has inspired us in this campaign.”
One ad shows Moss playing a fiddle in a field, next to a shirtless man wearing a cowboy hat. In another, five men are walking on a boat dock, their eyes cast upward. Another features women standing under a tree with leaves that are changing color, while a smiling man sits above them on a branch, reading a book.
So far, Klein said, magazine editors have responded favorably to the ads, created by the company’s in-house agency, CRK Advertising.
“It’s shocking in its cleanliness and freshness, and it’s very different from what he’s done in the recent past,” said Linda Wells, editor of Allure magazine. “I love the new campaign because the women look really attractive, but it still has an edge. You want to be them, and that’s such a compelling thing.”
The spring ad campaign includes Klein’s jeans, mid-priced CK apparel and the top-of-the-line Collection lines. It will also encompass home furnishings, accessories, fragrances and other products. To showcase the new campaign, a fold-out collection of ads will be included in the March issues of Elle, Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair. In addition to a broad print campaign, the company will launch a series of outdoor ads.
Some have compared Klein’s new ads to the traditional, sporty and patriotic ads of his main competitors, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. But Klein sees his ads as distinctive, reflecting familiar Calvin Klein sensuality.
“While being upbeat, the new campaign also retains our modern, sexy sensibility,” he said.
