Does This Calvin Klein Ad Contain a Secret Vulgar Message?
- Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:29pm by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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Is Calvin Klein sending a secret, vulgar message in its latest ad popping up in New York City? If you look close enough, you might say, “yes.”
This is the ad, erected in Lower Manhattan, that’s causing quite the stir, and not just for the half-naked model seemingly busting out of her undergarments:
Did you catch it? You may have to look again. In the background, some say, the ad spells out he “F-word.” Behind the model, a set of table legs represents the “f,“ the models underwear appear to be a ”u,” while the ad’s “ck” completes the word.
WPIX-TV covered the story:
“You know, I didn’t see it right away, but now that I really look at it, it’s disturbing,” Indera Bartoo, a mother, told the TV station.
Another mother, Desiree Kato, agreed: “There is a hidden message, but it’s inappropriate and should be taken down.”
But a man named Roland told WCBS you have to be looking real hard to see any message: “I guess you could make that argument. If you’re really paying attention and you’re trying to read into detail, you can make that argument, but I’m not picking it up, to be quite honest.”
Calvin Klein didn‘t respond to WPIX’s request for comment.
This isn’t the first time the company has been embroiled in a controversy. WCBS explains:
In the 80s, the designer made headlines with a controversial commercial that featured a 15-year-old Brooke Shields asking “Do you want to know what comes between me and my Calvins?”
(The answer: “Nothing!”)
More recently, a Calvin Klein ad featuring two men and a woman in a sexually suggestive pose was pulled in Australia because some felt it promoted group sex and/or rape.
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Comments (197)
Nations
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:49pmPsychological warfare is the reality of the methodology used by liberals associated with the Democratic Party and the Progressive Movement. They are audacious and in your face on most all issues. Youth loves to be NASTY and show off. They know this and go Hell-bent in that direction to co-opt our children from our hopes and dreams with such egregious messages. One can dissect all the marketing of youth products and see the methods that border on “gayish” themes in all media presentations. It is sickening to one who tries to raise a kid in good morals.
Their Nasty Practitioners represents a wealth of brainpower designed to create discourse in our nation for their power needs. With insurmountable ties to academic professionals, the party of Poop has access to some of the best practitioners of propaganda expertise. Their system is to break down moral fiber and amplify self-indulgent behavior in the electorate and then use it to their cause. These researchers who profess knowledge of sophisticated propaganda techniques, target audiences preoccupied with their own hardened narcissistic pursuits. Hedonistic music and visual amplification of such can be found within all they purvey and strive to create points of civil contention. They have virtually ruined a good and great nation with their fealty means.
Liberal Feminism is the human leveraging tool of the demoncratic Party’s strategists. This shallow mindset represents an impertinence or outright flippancy against serious issues that were once part of our national founding principles. Their mission seems pointed at a tendency of human preoccupation with the self rather than an understanding of our national well being for the long term. Domestic issues are reinforced and touted over national security to drive a wedge into our societal makeup. Many in this audience, stir away from any immersion into the political reality until a “sound-bite-moment” prior to the election and then pen their future on false hype.
This method of advertising propaganda is only the tip of the iceberg. Everything is Hype and Lie, then go NASTY.
Report Post »Workforit
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:48pmBrilliant marketing… nice boobs… No problem!
Report Post »bigtruck1956
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:46pmSo a 60 foot half naked woman is not the problem but a table is. Please we need to get our priorities clear.
Report Post »rustyspostweekly
therockczar
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 10:47pmYou can’t read, can you? All you look at is pictures, you neanderthal. The message is their plain as day to anyone who has a brain and it is vulgar–
Report Post »dawg of gawd
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:32amHalf naked? Which half? Have you ever been to the beach? Are you offended by the female body? I think you might be.
Report Post »Warphead
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:46pmIf you believe nothing else, believe this. That add cost so much money to produce you can bet your butt that there is not one pixel of the inage that has not had it’s own board meeting over. Trust me when I say, everything thing to the last stitch in her undies was carefully planned and placed. The “not so” subliminal message in the background is no accident. Somebody in the add department probably received the equivalant of a years salary for that one. Probably soaking up the rays right now on some private beach, sipping on some exotic drink with a tiny umbrella in it. Darn, wish I had of thought of it.
Report Post »TJexcite
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:46pmThe black helicopters are going to pick you up at 5 pm.
Lets insult everyone and then they will buy our undies even faster.
Report Post »alishamommyof5
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:45pmI have to admit it I saw it before I read what it says, but it’s not as bad as the almost naked girl being pimped to the public.
Report Post »auntmoxie.com
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:44pmLet’s see: Middle East on fire, Marxists visiting the White House and undermining our Republic, Iran thinking it’s the end of days… Is this really the biggest thing we have to worry about?
Report Post »Mainer forever
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:22pmIs that Moxie….like the “soda”? And if so…do you actually drink it? (I’ve only met 1 or 2 people who actually drink the stuff)
Report Post »Bill Wallace
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:44pmI wonder if that ad could destroy life as we know it.
Perhaps it gets pulled off the networks cause it obviously touts doom and gloom. That is what some incredibly wealthy shadow guy thinks with his 5 minute commercial.
Report Post »delhoghe
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:42pmWhomever posted this article is more dirty minded than the Cavin Kline ad agency that made the commercial.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:01pmBu , Bye
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:41pmIt’s hard to make out right away. I’m more disturbed by the anorexic model with the sunken dead eyes that tries to appear 14 or 15
Report Post »ZOMBIE JESUS LOVES ME
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:41pmVulgar. Artistic. Whatever.
I love me some boobies. (And if you don’t like boobies, you’re not a real AMERICAN MALE!)
Report Post »sean_m.
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:55pmYEP!
Seriously, it’s reaching.
Report Post »Dahart
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:40pmHay Blaze….. It’s not April 1st yet…. Stop playing around…..lol
Report Post »JJCon
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:39pmThat’s just tableleg-underwear-calvin-klein’n stupid.
Report Post »faithwalker
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:39pmIf no one talked about it no one would notice it.
Report Post »mrmikejohnson
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:39pm“This is the ad, erected in Lower Manhattan” – The Blaze
Report Post »————————
Is that secret, vulgar language from The Blaze?
Grady Curve
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:47pmHe said “erected”….hahahaahahaha
Report Post »VTDave
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:51pmComing from someone with the last name “Johnson”……. LOL
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:39pmI don’t mind. I know it really ****** off the radical Muslims looking at that satanic image in disgust. I’m happy. Put one up across that mosque they’re thinking of making next to 9/11 site.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:00pmShe needs a “pet” pig.
Report Post »and to the republic
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:38pmif you turn the picture around, it says BITE ME…..and I do see the F U…..
Report Post »brntout
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:37pmSorry missed that one.My eyes were too distracted.Actually had to watch the vide and read the text before i caught it.
Report Post »yippyio
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:37pmJews contribution to our culture.
Non-sequitur
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:39pmHey, don’t dis the Jew bro, they gave us Jesus.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:44pmIf she was a Calvin Klein Burka clad model, you would not even see the U. Islams contribution to the world. With all these Musselmen around the world what has I Slam contributed to any culture? Other than the strap on bombs mommy and daddy muslim, have provided kiddy muslims
Report Post »Brasil2520
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:05pmThey gave us Jesus and the best deli’s , for a price of course.
Report Post »flamegonesilver
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:17pmYIPPYIO…..you have something against Jews?
Report Post »bkfirvine
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:35pmBite me.
Report Post »yippyio
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:43pm@flamegonesilver
Yeah I got something against them. They hate Christians and I am Christian. Thats what I got against them. Ask any jew in the past 2000 years has a single solitary jew ever apologised for killing Christ. Has it ever happened. Ask any jew do you feel sorry about what happened to Christ. Go ahead ask. Then you will see what I got against them.
exdem
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 9:37pmAre you new here? I don’t remember seeing such hateful remarks about Jews on the Blaze. Are you one of those 86 Media Matters new hires? Is your paid assignment to write hateful antisemitic remarks on the Blaze so your state TV homies like that little guy Racheal Maddow can put them on his show and cast a negative light on the Blazers?? Do you get a tingle up your leg when you hear the name George Soros???
Report Post »therockczar
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 10:45pmMoron
Report Post »yippyio
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 10:45pmNo none of that, just an honest expression of my feeling having lived amongst the chosen my entire life.
Report Post »Oh and I do know how you must ache, knowing how much every truthful word I type bothers you to no end.
exdem
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 11:53pmApologize????? for what ???
Report Post »I should apologize because you have a crappy Media Matters job???
macpappy
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 1:07amEvery loser has someone or something to blame for the sad state of their life. In every case however, one usually finds that the fail was their own. You can blame the Jew for your miserable state if you choose; but it won’t hurt and Jews if you do. Your skinhead attitude is misplaced, you should place your anger on the circumstances that allowed you to get this far while being uneducated, and obviously having some emotional issues. I am not Jewish, but I defend their way of life, and am saddened by what has happened to them throughout history by bigoted, evil people like you. I hold with no religion, but will defend anyone’s right to that which they choose. And you have a right to spout the drivel and hateful speech that you choose. However, now we know how reprehensible you are. I am sure you can find a site that will welcome your kind. This one will not.
Report Post »kitchenjoe
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:16amYippyio, as a christian you should know that Jesus said, “Father forgive them”, and as His followers we are called to forgive. If He, as a recipient of mans’ hatred, can forgive, how much more should and can we. You also should know that He also said that if we don’t forgive others, He won’t forgive us. I suggest that as you and I learn to forgive, we are freed up to become the people He calls us to be. Let it go!
Report Post »mrsmileyface
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:36pmSo a company whos ran by a guy whos 68 years old and runs adds of females who could likely be his grandaughter or greatgrandaughter barely clothed…….theres nothing creeeeeepy here. Any other human on the planet would be admonished.
Report Post »MrBigBillyB
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:52pmNot Hugh Heifner.
Report Post »Zenvis
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 5:24pmOk maybe not Hugh… but the rest of us. Just post a naked person and not that word and see what would happen. What happened to decency?
Report Post »saneromeo
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:35pmThis is what we are worried about? Really?
Report Post »Non-sequitur
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:38pmI wouldn’t say “worried”.
I’d say “butthurt”, maybe “paranoid”.
Report Post »felina g
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:09pmShe appears to be pre-teen. Maybe I am old.
Report Post »elr4
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 8:05amI suppose this means we have to ban all billboards or do we ban all advertising?
Report Post »Ha Ha !!! Remember “Beck for President’ ….. superbowl? Suprised they didn’t want advertising banned after that one!!
swampbuck
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:35pmThats a stretch their ads are sleazy enough already…
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:21pmYou mean stretch, as in over the line? I agree that their ads are already sleazy.
Report Post »Ashrak
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:34pmOf course it does. It is done to generate publicity, just like this article.
Report Post »BurntHills
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:34pmyep. subliminal, but it sure popped out like a flashing neon sign at the guys here.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:31pmMaybe I am going blind, I do not see anything where they mention it.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:34pmSnow
You have to play the ad backward
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:37pmWith your eyes crossed…
Report Post »CatB
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:38pmBest advertising in the world … put in something to make it go “viral”.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:38pmThey are really reaching here.
Report Post »MAULEMALL
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:39pmI’m gonna pray that it actually says it…
Report Post »MotherRedDog
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:44pmThis is something the photographers are doing now. Come on guys, it’s on purpose. My daughter-in-law is always sending me pictures of different shapes and bodies that form peoples names. It‘s a hot trend in photography even if you haven’t seen or heard about it. And, yes, this clearly is the F word and they‘re checking to see who’s paying attention.
Report Post »Grady Curve
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:45pmthey said you‘d go blind it you did’nt stop doing that…..
Report Post »moreteaplease
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:46pmSnow,
It’s there…whether it was intentional or not??? IDK.
Report Post »afishfarted
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:50pmsorta like seeing an image of the Virgin Mary in your morning toast, aint it?
Report Post »cheezwhiz
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:53pmSo the ad says ” f* ck one ” right ?
Report Post »Showtime
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:56pmSNOW ~
Look at the position the model is in. Use your imagination.
Then, look at the table legs (the thin marks), where her butt is, and “ck” for Calvin Klein.
Advertisers have used subliminal messages for YEARS and YEARS! In ice cubes for various beverages, when something is dropped into liquid such as milk, for any liquid commercial, for nearly anything. But this CK commercial is blatant. Remember, “sex sells.”
Report Post »wesokc
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 3:59pmI wouldn’t have caught it or said “They are reaching” . But the billboard says to “Scan to reveal more” Thi is on purpose.
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:00pm@SNOW ~~~~ It’s there and it IS obvious. Plus, look at the model, if one can call her that. She looks like a pimped-out whore, used up way before her time, a willing player to the seedier side of mankind (pardon the pun).
No more calvinkline products along with so many others……… *sigh*…….
We are saving money hand over fist at this rate!
WA-HOO!
Report Post »MontanaRob
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:01pmI…couldn’t get…past the…cleavage…gotta go …wash eyes out…with soap!
Report Post »G.W. Dobbs
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:10pmYes, the picture shows the vulgar word “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge” we all now hear and read daily in this immoral, anti-Christian society. They sneek it in here but most of the time they push it on us in TV, Movies, Music, and all Media.
Report Post »John 1776
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:27pmThat might be a real stretch …. Just like the model’s cloths !
Report Post »TSUNAMI-22
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 4:38pmI see it. I saw it before I even read the headline. Either you can‘t see it because you’re blind, or you don’t have as filthy of a mind as I do :)
RJO
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 5:20pmAnyone….with any minimal training in marketing knows what the message is. NOTHING happens in advertising by accident!! Every inch, every letter, every image is carefully considered and planned to present a chosen theme for maximum impact.
So let’s see…..the large pro-life billboard in NYC (the one accurately pointing out that a very high percentage of abortions are performed in the city are performed on African-American women and that those unborn, dead victims of the procedure are effecting the societal structure of that group) is OFFENSIVE…..and this large display will…………………you guessed it….not be.
Degradation for the profit margin…….
Report Post »coryf076
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 5:21pmThere are letters and words in the ad?
Report Post »GEW
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 5:23pmThis is dumb and dumber. It is nothing.
Report Post »12 gauge
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 5:34pm@Snow You forgot to look at it through a shot glass with 3-D glasses on…
Report Post »P C BE DAMNED
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 5:35pmI agree it is meant to appeal to the pruient mind as to me it is quit boring. Since I got out of my teens I have had a few things on my mind besides my head being stuck in my underwear. This stuff is so childish yet nasty. I would like to take a belt to this group and believe me they would not like it. No you would not and get your hand out of your pants. Fool
Report Post »ARMED-WITH-INFORMATION-AND-DANGEROUS
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 5:53pmI really think this is quite a stretch IMHO but hey, I guess somebody must have thought we needed to be warned about this…..Stacked up against ALL the most current events in this country and in other parts of the world……I don’t get it…..
Report Post »smw8
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 5:59pmhey, did you have to say they erected the sign?
Report Post »t00nces2
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 6:09pmI’m still trying to count all the “sex’s” in Farrah Faucetts hair….
Report Post »Marylou7
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 6:28pmWell I’m a real prude and I saw it right away. Of course this is a sore subject with me. Don’t like for anyone to play these type games with our youth…it’s just plain sick.
Report Post »A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 6:55pmI see a “W”.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 8:04pmThat‘s because it’s a hidden message.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 8:28pmI think what people ought to do is put more emphasis on success and money, and not having children until your life is all set up, of course most will define “Life as they want” as having plenty of money and a 9-5 job. And then finally when they are 35-40 years old they find out they can‘t get pregnant and or they are terrible parents themselves because they don’t know what’s actually important. Oh wait a minute, people already do all these things and that is how we got to where we are at. I‘m not worried about these adds or as a matter of fact anything going on because it is all part of the great reset that people have allowed to happen due to having lost what’s important for generations.
Report Post »calamari12
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 8:31pmthis is just like when they tried to find sexual inuendos in Disney animated movies. They aren’t there, stop looking.
Report Post »Anti_Spock
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 9:03pmThis is right up there with cloud-interpretation and star gazing. Good job on this one BLAZE.
Report Post »TulsaYeeHaw
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 9:18pmUmm…what was the story again?
Report Post »getalong
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 12:21amAnother example of moral decay in our country targeted at the 20-30 something generation. Moral conditioning to live in a country where moral values are non-existent. The “as long as it doesn’t affect me, I don’t care” attitude that is so prevelant in communist and socialist societies. Disgusting. Calvin Klein isn’t just an old guy trying to be cool – he is also an old pervert it seems.
Report Post »MinorityRightsAdvocate
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 12:55amIt is just part of an agenda; promiscuity leads to destruction of the family, a common them with the radical left progressive collectivist crowd. It is in the weather underground manifesto and in the Coming Insurrection. This is merely one of many ways to get that done.
http://minorityrightsadvocate.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/their-agenda-marches-on-this-is-not-about-%e2%80%9crights%e2%80%9d-it-is-about-destruction-of-the-family-the-anything-goes-definition-of-marriage-is-really-about-destroying-marriage-the-foundation/
Sure, they want you to think it is innocent and only marketing, just like they want you to think the economy is recovering, or any number of other lies to cover for their evil intentions they cannot be honest about, until it is too late.
Report Post »loadingmyclips
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 8:15amIt’s there, subliminal stuff. Actually the mind completes the word more so than the underwear. but for the literal, the underwear is the u.
Report Post »loadingmyclips
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 8:34amAnyway they do not have to spell out things in code when the little sweetheart is in that position dressed as she is !!
Report Post »slickmeister
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 9:17amRemember the liquor ads where you could always find the naked chick in the ice cubes? This is today’s version.
Oh no! – mind control. ;D
Report Post »@leftfighter
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 10:53amYes it’s subliminal, yes it’s there of purpose, yes it’s expected.
This is, after all, one of the companies (along with American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, Frederick‘s of Hollywood and Victoria’s Secret among others) that regularly pushes sex in advertising, often reaching well into the taboo.
Unfortunately, this is just one more piece of evdence in the argument proving the decline of morality in America.
Report Post »ForgivenWretch
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 3:33pmPersonally I think it is intentional. The reason…where the heck is the other end of the “table?” And, under “CK” it says “One”.
Report Post »Glenn in Virginia
Posted on April 1, 2011 at 8:36pmYou’re going blind; but what a way to go!
Report Post »