Ad #16: Controversial Ads 3, Calvin Klien

OK so while this ad is interesting and very fun to watch, for boys and girls, it is highly controversial. So good points first it does a very good job of hitting its target audience, which is young males of the 90s (and maybe young women who wished their men looked like Marky Mark). They use a well-known celebrity, Mark Walberg to support their ad, and built a campeign for Calvin Klien around him. The commercial was also in black and white, which makes it stand out and also points to Calvin Klien. So for the negatives, firstly they use a very young actor (which Calvin Klien is notorious for doing) and they have him in underwear grabbing his bits and pieces on national television and he is discussing sex and hugging all over a girl that is also shirtless. This would have been a highly controversial thing in the 90s because even though we had gone through the sexual revolution already, talking about sex and grabbing himself would still have shocked people. Also he does a non to subtle gibe at fruit of the loom. Another thing that is questionsable about this ad is that he says the best way to protect against aids is to "keep the Calvin's on" and that "nothing come between [him] and [his] Calvins" and then at the end of his ads he says that the girl can come between him and his Calvins. For some reason that just doesnt seem to promote Calvins image very well for me.