Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508210052
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Denounced by some child welfare experts as kiddie porn, Calvin Klein's latest jeans ads seem to be about everything but jeans.
Taken by Steven Meisel, the photographer who shot Madonna's ``Sex,'' the photos feature pubescent boys and girls, some of them posing with a ``Yo, come hither!'' look.
One boy isn't wearing jeans at all, just underpants and a vest. In other cases, underwear peeks suggestively from beneath jeans.
Although the ads are on television and in magazines, their appearance on 150 New York City buses ignited debate about sex, youth and gender roles.
The Daily News quoted four child welfare experts Friday condemning the ads as something akin to soft-core pornography.
``He really scraped the bottom of the barrel,'' rape prevention specialist Iona Siegel told The Associated Press.
``He's made kids sex objects and put their pictures in a place where other kids will see them, with the crotches and belly buttons and hair and teeth and those very sexy expressions.''
Such controversy seems to be Calvin Klein's M.O.
Earlier ads featured a well-developed Marky Mark, the rapper, in briefs, and the not-so-developed Kate Moss in provocative poses, including naked with a large dog. Then there's Brooke Shields, who will always be remembered as the 15-year-old of ``Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.''
In New York, some people scrawled ``FEED ME'' on posters featuring Moss' waiflike body. And this week, a group of San Franciscans hung posters with the words ``Emaciation Stinks'' printed over a nude photo of her.
Klein's office issued a statement that claimed the latest jeans ads were inspired by ``the strength of personality and self-knowledge of young people today. ... What these people show is that they know how to act, how to control a situation and how to respond in their own way.''
The models were described as ``regular people,'' not professional models, but Klein's company would not give their ages.
In response to the uproar, NYC Transit said the ads will be reviewed. But Transit spokesman Tito Davila added that court rulings have given transit system advertising First Amendment protection.
He said the ads were approved by a private agency, which is obliged to follow guidelines barring ``false, misleading or deceptive advertising, and obscenity as defined by New York law.'' (Translation: Just about anything goes.)
As of Friday afternoon, Transit had received no complaints.
by CNB