Calvin Klein billboards, buy SEX not merchandise!

There's been a lot of talk about the Lara Stone Calvin Klein billboard and its removal after it was deemed inappropriate by the Advertising Standards Bureau who decided the imagery was pornographic, because it looked like the shirtless male models were gang raping poor Lara. It is an entirely subjective thing as to whether the ASB made a good judgement call looking after public interests, or if the response was over-sensitive and hysterical. Ultimately, by removing the ad the imagery has been brought more attention than a billboard could ever generate if it was left without comment.

If the marker of successful advertising is how it provokes consumer desire, a desire that finds temporary satisfaction in consumption, then it could be argued that all advertising is inherently pornographic. After all, it is also just a means to an end. If ‘pornography’ exists to incite lust, then great advertising - that not only arouses us but simultaneously compels, provokes and propels us in our consumption - is really, the most elite form of good, old-fashioned porn.

It's no secret that the basis of all advertising is firmly located in desire, and so it can be difficult understanding why billboards like the one above, seem to bring so much controversy. This Calvin Klein billboard featuring Lara Stone has now been banned in Australia. The Advertising Standards Bureau ordered its removal following complaints of the image invoking violence against women. It’s been banned not because of its highly charged depiction of sexuality or its partial nudity; but rather, according to some officials, because it alludes to gang rape.

We can’t deny that it is sexually suggestive. Calvin Klein - along with the majority of major fashion brands - has made a killing based on the concept. It’s also glamorous and a little sinister. The cage around the subjects, the red streaks on either side of the image, the X in the bottom right corner. Make no mistake about it, this billboard is alluding to something explicit.

Yet, it is this allusion to the explicit that separates it from pornography. If pornography is marked by actualisation, fulfilment, then this image does something completely different. It is provocative, it makes a suggestion, and the way the viewer interprets it is left entirely up to them. And it's the potential interpretation of what is alluded to in the picture that is terrifying.

There is always a horror in the unknown, and it takes the controversy surrounding an advertisement like this to override the powerful mechanism at work in advertising. It is clever, it speaks, it gets us talking. To censor, to silence, an image like this, is actually imbuing it with more power. Perhaps advertising executives should take note of the controversy surrounding this Calvin Klein billboard.

This advertisement gives us just enough to get us talking. It leaves us unsatisfied, in a manner of speaking.