FKA twigs calls out 'double standards' after her Calvin Klein ad is banned in UK

FKA twigs has hit back at "double standards" after her Calvin Klein ad was banned over complaints of objectifying women.

The ad showed the singer sporting a denim shirt draped halfway around her body, with half of her breast and the side of her buttocks exposed. The text read: "Calvins or nothing."

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has since received two complaints, suggesting the content was "overly sexualised" and offensive.

The decision to ban the ad has sparked fury online, with FKA twigs (real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett) sharing her opinion online.

Taking to Instagram, the British singer thanked the brand for giving her "space to express myself exactly how I wanted to".

Alongside a snap from the campaign, she wrote: "I do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me.

"I see a beautiful strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine.

"In light of reviewing other campaigns past and current of this nature, I can’t help but feel there are some double standards here.

"So to be clear… I am proud of my physicality and hold the art I create with my vessel to the standards of women like Josephine Baker, Eartha Kitt and Grace Jones who broke down barriers of what it looks like to be empowered and harness a unique embodied sensuality.

"Thank you to CK and Mert and Marcus who gave me a space to express myself exactly how I wanted to – I will not have my narrative changed."

Calvin Klein also defended the campaign, saying it was similar to their past photos that had been released in the UK.

The brand added that all "conventionally sensitive" body areas were fully covered and the subject was in a natural and neutral position.

The ASA said: "We considered the image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised.

"The ad used nudity and centred on FKA twigs’ physical features rather than the clothing, to the extent that it presented her as a stereotypical sexual object.

"We therefore concluded the ad was irresponsible and likely to cause serious offence."

The ASA did not ban two posters from the same campaign featuring model Kendall Jenner following complaints on the same grounds, finding that they did not focus on her body in a manner that portrayed her as a sexual object and the level of nudity was not beyond that which people would expect for a lingerie ad.

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