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Tell Calvin Klein CEO: stop using sexual predation to sell underwear.

Dear Mr. Shiffman,
	I am writing to you to express my disgust about an ad that you ran in the recent #MyCalvins Instagram campaign—the “I Flash In My Calvins” ad featuring Danish actress Klara Kristin. The actress is made to look very young in the image and the camera looks directly up her dress, focused on her crotch and revealing her underwear. The actress’s facial expression gives no evidence that she is aware of or consenting to her crotch being photographed. This ad—and the many similar ones your company has released before it—reinforces the culture where women are taught to tolerate and men are taught to engage in sexual assault and sexual advances women don’t want. Sexualization is the idea that a person’s worth is based only on their ability to create sexual pleasure for others: This ad reinforces that concept to teen girls, with horrible consequences.
	And by instructing the viewer to “take a peek”, this ad sells the same kind of creepy, warped reality that the U.S. election is highlighting: Women are objects to “move on”, “start kissing”, or “grab by the [genitals]”, and are expected to tolerate lewd remarks and uninvited sexual advances. We are sick of putting up with this sort of message. It’s not OK for a presidential candidate, and it’s not OK for ads targeting teen girls.  
	With so many teen girls and boys looking at your ads on social media, it is irresponsible to promote this kind of message in your advertising. I will no longer buy the Calvin Klein brand until you stop glorifying predatory and invasive treatment of the women in your ads, particularly young women. I will also tell all of my friends about my decision in the hopes that they will also stop buying your products.
	Calvin Klein has a history of creating ads that depict young women in sexually compromising positions: from the infamous ad featuring then-15-year old Brooke Shields in 1980, to 17-year old topless and emaciated Kate Moss in 1992, to the Lara Stone “gang rape” billboard in 2010. Calvin Klein should not need to promote child pornography, and violence against women in order to sell its products. It is one thing to create a provocative ad campaign, but it is quite another to cast women as passive sexual objects on whom men can act out their most harmful sexual desires. 
	The time has long passed for Calvin Klein to stop using disgusting, demeaning, and dangerous ads to sell its products. In order to win back my and my friends’ business, Calvin Klein needs to depict women as assertive beings whose bodies belong to themselves and themselves alone. I am telling other consumers and all of my friends and acquaintances about my thoughts and encouraging them to take the same action.

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