Frank Ocean's Calvin Klein Ads Only Deepen Mystery Around the Enigmatic Singer

Frank Ocean. Singer, songwriter, magazine editor, underwear model.

And now, perhaps, novelist.

While fans lose their minds over whether the mysterious R&B singer’s long-anticipated second album might, possibly, just maybe be released in July, he is providing a peek into his relationship with music, boxer briefs—and more subtly, long-form fiction writing—in a new Calvin Klein campaign.

read more

Here's the Steamy Video to Go With Calvin Klein's Sexting Billboards

Building on last week’s digital-dating print campaign, Calvin Klein is taking its #mycalvins play for the Tinder and Grindr generation into the live action realm.

A new spot overlays sexts onto the fashion category’s usual moody writhing — the brand claims the dialogue is based on “actual events and people,” which is easy to believe, given it includes lines like “come ovr”. (Gotta say, that kind of creative license has never gotten a writer off.)

Like the billboards, Mother New York created the spot, featuring international faces like Grace Hartzel, Ethan James Green, Aya Jones, Julia Van Os, Piero Mendez, and more. And while it’s easy to dismiss as merely tortured or sexually provocative, it does deserve credit for its recognition of diversity in many forms: It is hetero, gay, ethnically mixed and sexually open.

But it’s maybe most notable for how it masterfully illustrates the listlessness of a generation ruled by swipes, right or left. Even in sexual intimacy, these people don’t so much connect as graze, and the tyranny of a small text can result in either the happy arrival of a third partner, or a precipitated gathering-of-belongings before wandering off to the next hook-up. This is best exemplified by the conversation that concludes the piece.

“Why do we even do this?” an angsty male voice says into the ether.

“Because it’s fun, and you love it,” replies a woman whose aggressive tone suggests this isn’t actually about loving anything — it’s mainly about diversions.

Calvin Klein Embraces Sexting and Tinder in Racy Campaign About Digital Dating

While every other brand has begun talking emoji, Calvin Klein is embracing a racier kind of virtual-speak—sexting—in its latest #mycalvins ad campaign.

A handful of new ads from Mother New York, shot by Mario Sorrenti, feature sultry photos overlaid with text-message conversations, about things like threesomes, nude photos and cheating on one’s partner. The tagline is: “Raw texts, real stories,” and fine print says the chats are “inspired by actual events and people.”

CK’s CMO, Melisa Goldie, tells WWD it’s all about embracing how people communicate today and attracting the target market with “conversation through provocation.”

“We saw a behavior happening out there—and not just [with] the younger generation. It’s really dating via digital. It’s authentic and true to how this consumer communicates,” she says. “We’re highlighting the truth about dating—the meetup, the hookup and the freedom that you have through the digital dating landscape and how instantaneous it is.”

“Mother New York hung out with kids living in today’s world and heard stories from best hookups to steamiest sexts. Nothing was off limits,” says Michael Ian Kaye, Mother New York executive creative director. “The result is a campaign that broaches online dating, open relationships and complex sexuality, bringing to life the truths about modern love.”

The campaign will hit 27 markets and include large LED screens and street furniture in cities like Bangkok and São Paulo. Male models Reid Rohling and Ethan James Green are featured in one of the ads, which will be featured on the brand’s signature billboard on Houston Street in New York City beginning Aug. 3.

The campaign will also reach Tinder this fall. See the ads below.

SNL Piles On by Ruthlessly Mocking Justin Bieber's Calvin Klein Ads

You gotta hand it to Biebs. He had the balls to show his (heavily Photoshopped) nuts to the world in the latest ads for Calvin Klein underpants.

But given the kid’s—aherm—the man’s previous indiscretions, it’s tough to take anything he does seriously. Well, unless you’re 12 years old, lacking all of your olfactory senses or on a bath-salt-induced face-eating spirit quest. 

On this weekend’s Saturday Night Live, viewers were treated to yet another brilliant parody of an infamous ad bouncing around the zeitgeist. Master impressionist Kate McKinnon lampoons the crap out of the teen idol and likely future-best-friend-of-Donald-Trump, mugging for the camera like a teen girl posing for her own selfie.

“Yo. My pee-pee’s in there,” she says, making childish references to her package while leg-humping like a horny tween all over Cecily Strong (playing model Lara Stone). 

Take a look below at this genius illustration of what the world really thinks of these ads—surely J.B. is sitting at home in his Calvins, flattered by this sincerely great imitation.



Justin Bieber's Calvin Klein Ads Make Everyone Everywhere Question Everything

Stop the presses. Justin Bieber is making a Justin Bieber face in ads for Calvin Klein, and people are losing their minds.

“Is he actually hot in these pictures?” some people are asking. “Will he ever be as hot as Marky Mark?” other people are wondering. “Can we please bring back David Beckham?” further people are begging (even though Beckham’s underwear pics were for H&M, because Beckham was too good for Calvin Klein).

In any event, these topics—surprise, bargaining, regret—are apparently the relevant considerations when weighing the cultural significance of Justin Bieber wearing C.K. jeans and underwear. (Dutch model Lara Stone also appears in the campaign, but most people seem more interested in Bieber.)

He, reportedly, has been teasing the idea that he might appear in C.K. ads for some time now—almost a year, which has only stoked the fires of frenzy among people looking for a chance to freak out over Justin Bieber taking off his shirt.

“This is so dumb, why are we even talking about this?” was the majority response—31 percent, or 13,200 votes—of a highly scientific BuzzFeed reader poll about the new ads, as measured at 11:24 p.m. on Tuesday night. “I, like, don’t hate it? ¯_(?)_/¯” was the runner up, with 20 percent. “No no no no” followed at 19 percent.

The photography—and/or Photoshopping—certainly has some aesthetic appeal, for people willing to embrace or at least overlook the fact that it’s Justin Bieber making a Justin Bieber face. On the other hand, Calvin Klein probably likes the fact that Justin Bieber’s face comes with 59 million Twitter followers, many of whom like Justin’s Bieber face, and might want to buy Calvin Klein jeans and underwear after looking at it.

So, all in all, it seems like a pretty good plan.



Justin Bieber Claims Untouched Calvin Klein Photo Is Fake

Justin Bieber sure made a lot of noise on the Internet this week.

On Friday, the music website BreatheHeavy.com published what it claimed to be an untouched image from the pop star’s new Calvin Klein ad campaign, but has now issued a retraction. The GIF suggested that Bieber’s head, arms, legs, chest and below-waist area were exaggerated in the final image.

While it’s still possible that the unretouched photo could be real (and that BreatheHeavy simply wants to avoid a lawsuit), the image does look a bit fishy, particularly since Bieber’s head seems sizably larger compared to the after photo.

“We sincerely apologize to Bieber for the hit to his ego and to the millions of tweens on social media we upset,” BreatheHeavy writer Jordan Miller says.

Indeed, the untouched photo sparked a storm of chatter about the CK campaign on Friday (see some examples of reactions on Twitter below).

BreatheHeavy.com obtained the photo from a source who also claimed that Bieber caused a scene on the set of the shoot.

But CK CMO Melisa Goldie tells US Weekly a much different story. “We shot the print and video campaigns over several days at Silvercup Studios with photographers Mert and Marcus and Johan Renck, who directed the campaign video,” she said. “Justin showed up early every day with amazing energy; he completely trusted us and gave it his all.”

This GIF Shows You Just How Photoshopped Justin Bieber's Calvin Klein Ads Were [UPDATED]

UPDATE, Jan. 10: Justin Bieber’s team insists the unretouched Calvin Klein photo below, showing a scrawnier, less well-endowed Bieber, is fake. The photo was posted to BreatheHeavy.com, but after getting a cease-and-desist letter, that site has now removed it and published a retraction. “Bieber denies the photo is real, and I respect that and will believe him,” the writer says.

See our original story below:

Well, it looks like Justin Bieber’s controversial Calvin Klein ads aren’t quite what they seem.

When Bieber’s ad campaign launched earlier this week, the Internet went wild over how chiseled (and fake) his body looked next to model Lara Stone. The pop star has apparently spent years preparing for the campaign, telling Women’s Wear Daily, “It’s always been a dream. Last spring, I posted a picture on Instagram in my underwear, using the #mycalvins tag. Thankfully the brand saw it and liked the reaction it was getting, and a relationship started from there.”

Website BreatheHeavy.com has now gotten its hands on an untouched campaign and uploaded it to Instagram.

As you can see, CK bulked up the pop star’s biceps, torso, chest and ahem—package—pretty significantly. Bieber’s head was also scaled down to fit the new buffed-up body. Yes, in this campaign, Justin Bieber has less of a big head.

BreatheHeavy.com’s photo came from a source who claims Bieber was a pain to shoot the spot with. “He was basically a douche,” the source told the pop music site. “He hit on Lara several times, and she had to stop him, basically calling him out on being just a child.”

While Photoshopping is nothing new to the fashion industry, it’s come under quite a bit of scrutiny lately. In August, Modcoth vowed to do away with the photo-retouching tactic when it signed the “Heroes Pledge for Advertisers” petition. And when American Eagle-owned Aerie decided to ditch Photoshopping last year, sales went up 9 percent.



Louis CK One Is a Mashup That Smells Like Perfection

What do you get when you combine the soulless, artsy advertising imagery of CK One with the doughy, balding, angst-sweaty magnificence of Louis C.K.? One awesome Tumblr, that's what.

Louis CK One is a mashup that combines images of the comedian, famous for keeping it real, with the plastic, hyperstylized aesthetic of Calvin Klein. Bogus billboards and faux magazine spreads display his pot belly and shiny pate in close proximity to stylish "Louis CK One" bottles, creating an image so oxymoronic it becomes social satire.

Refinery29 guesses at the "Louis CK One" bouquet: "Aniseed and pizza grease? Citrus and flop sweat? Baby powder and righteous rage?" Hey wait, that's what the real CK One smells like!

The joke ads posted so far are great, but I'm hoping for a parody of Calvin Klein's pretentious commercials. Imagine a Louis C.K. impersonator (or the real deal) rocking a black sleeveless number, wagging his Doritos-smeared middle finger at the camera and lamenting, as he did last year to Conan O'Brien, "You never feel completely sad or completely happy; you just feel kinda satisfied with your product, and then you die!"

 


    

David Fincher Directs Rooney Mara in Calvin Klein Fragrance Ad

David Fincher's Calvin Klein commercial starring Rooney Mara exists in a dreary, dreamless dimension beyond banality and cliché. It occupies a zone so soullessly stylized that "style" loses all meaning … a wasteland so unironic that irony screams for release, only to go unheard. This 60-second black-and-white spot introducing CK's Downtown fragrance plays like an unfunny parody of its putrid genre—yet it's very real, which makes irony scream all the more. In other words, it's like every other pretentious, faux-artsy perfume and fashion commercial. Maybe more so. Fincher previously directed Mara in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network. "Runaway" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs plays on the soundtrack. The ad features puppies, buses, rain, subways, earbuds and a press conference. A lot of stuff happens in slow motion. Mara cracks a smile, which The Huffington Post seems to think is a big deal. I'm not sold on the name of the perfume, either. How does downtown usually smell? In my experience, it stinks. Print ad below the video.

    

Calvin Klein – Provocations

Voici le nouveau spot de 10 minutes intitulé « Provocations » pour Calvin Klein pour la saison Printemps 2013. Mettant en avant l’acteur Alexander Skarsgård et le top-modèle Suvi Kopenen dans une série de scènes sensuelles, ce clip magnifiquement réalisé par Fabien Baron est à découvrir dans l’article en vidéo.

Calvin-Klein-Provocations3-640x270
Calvin Klein -Provocations9
Calvin-Klein-Provocations2-640x267
Calvin Klein -Provocations8
Calvin Klein -Provocations6
Calvin Klein -Provocations4
Calvin Klein -Provocations2
Calvin Klein -Provocations3
Calvin Klein -Provocations5