Via Becky at Happy Bodies comes this ad from Calvin Klein, which Becky ran into at Hulu while watching “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”.
Trigger warnings on this: threatening – like the kind of street harassment that feels like it’s just about to turn into rape.
Description: a black and white montage of young buff men in briefs appear. Some of the men are filmed from slightly below centre, and they are staring straight at the camera, posturing aggressively, in some cases moving actively toward the camera. Each instance of “dick” (or perhaps “cock”; it can be difficult to tell which is being used) or “fuck” is mostly bleeped out, with a red “x” in front of the man’s mouth.
The men are saying
“Hey. Hey you!”
“Do you want to see my dick?”
“Do you want to see my dick?”
“I SAID, do you want to see my dick?”
“Oh, come on, don’t be shy.”
“You want some fucking more?”
Holla back to Hulu on feedback@hulu.com.
Categories: gender & feminism, violence
Grabbing somebody is Assault, and sexual touch makes it Sexual Assault. Stop minimising this. #rapeculture101 
Quicklink of the Day #2: #DestroyTheJoint excludes voices of women with disabilities 
Quicklink Of The Day #1: Transgender Day of Remembrance 
Friday Hoyden: Gillian Triggs 
Hoyden About Town 
No, I don’t want any more. I have quite enough.
Jesus. I don’t even want to watch/hear that. Thank you for the transcript — reading it was more than enough to make the hackles on the back of my neck stand up.
Not that I was buying Calvin Klein before, but it’s going to be a conscious not buying from here on in.
It really does seem to be incomprehensible to some people that not all women (I presume these are the people that the dudes in the ad are addressing) like hard, “tough” male bodies . REALLY…… REALLY. And ads like this one just recapitulate the idea that if women say they aren’t attracted to these dudes, they are obviously just prudish liars who have never had a good fuck in their entire lives.
And then there is also the “homoerotic” ( for want of a better word) aspect as well. I guess many would presume the target audience would be male ( following a hetero narrative, they would be the ones predominantly consuming the product), but when the dudes in the ad speak they seem to be addressing a female audience. Which I guess, a) allows men to look at other men’s half naked bodies, whilst disavowing the possibility of homosexuality by calling on the hatred of women to ‘heterosexualise’ the situation, and b) highlights the seriousness of the threat of male-on-male rape; one of the ways in which dudez are hurt by this sort of advertising too.
Oh my God.
Thanks for the transcript, that’s more than enough.
Sometimes I wonder what the hell the advertising team is actually trying to achieve, when they put out something this frankly frightening. And if it takes off, cue emulations from college guys. I know my crew would have thought this was hilarious to re-enact when we were at school.
Oh wow, you’re right, that IS triggering! I like a nice well-toned body. I’m an artist, so I like looking at all the muscle groups. But I really don’t like to be harrassed while watching a commercial! UGH! How horrible! UGH!
When women go to buy undies for their men they’ll think, “Ooh, creepy street thug!” and stay the hell away from Calvin Kleins.
Which is sad. Remember the 80s? You sold undies by having Marty McFly wear them in Back to the Future! 😦
Transcript was enough for me,too. I was watching two independent Canadian films yesterday on Hulu with spouse, and that ad did not appear. I don’t watch the ads (removing my ear wire). Interesting that another artist posting comment likes looking at the muscles, Nacey, I think is her name. I prefer men’s bodies without that heavy muscle definition – although I do like the body in David, Michelangelo’s nude. (I’m an artist, too, sculptor)
Sanda – I like a nice range of different body types. I’m also a comic artist, so defined muscles tends to be in my genre. Though I tend to lean towards Michelangelo types with so-called “love handles” and regular fat pads that get looked down upon so often. I am so thread-jacking here. Sorry. My point being, I like all sorts. 🙂
I think my original point that I terribly put across is that it takes a lot to put me off a muscular guy. And CK managed to do it in under fifteen seconds.
Nacey – you were clear; my fog. (Am smiling) Thanks.
Fog, indeed. I forgot to type the punchline for my original comment.
On Calvin Klein jockey shorts: I just finished an art project – drawings, one of which became a woodcut image, which then went into a xerographic (collage “mechanical” for multiples, using the image and photo images of mine), then into a final woodcut using 3 images from drawings. Old Calvin Klein 100% cotton jockey shorts made the best rags for cleaning up waterbase woodcut ink.
*vomit* thanks for the transcript, I don’t want to have to see that. I feel very very uncomfortable just reading that. Good thing we only buy the cheap undies from woolies anyway
Wow…..just wow. Uh, no, I don’t want to see your dick. What I would like to see is less sexism and more advertisement of CLOTHING. Kthanxbai.
No. No I don’t want to see your dick. And no I don’t want any fucking more. Just watching that ad makes me feel one small step away from being raped. Oh wait, let me guess, it’s supposed to be post-ironic, right?
newswithnipples: ” Oh wait, let me guess, it’s supposed to be post-ironic, right?”
Didn’t you know that no-one gets harassed or raped anymore? We’re all equal and happy-clappy! These are jokes about _history_, before postfeminism! Don’t you have a sense of humour?
Caffeineaddict: ”And then there is also the “homoerotic” ( for want of a better word) aspect as well. I guess many would presume the target audience would be male ( following a hetero narrative, they would be the ones predominantly consuming the product), but when the dudes in the ad speak they seem to be addressing a female audience. “
This is an interesting side of things. My second thought (after “WTF were they THINKING?!”) was about the homoeroticism of the ad. The long form (which you can see here if you really want to) is more deliberately ambiguous – there’s a line that is (I think) “All the girls are dick-crazy” (as if to ask “What is WRONG with you?”), then one of the other men says “I’ll show you my dick if you show me yours”.
Later, one of the men actually does ask “What the fuck is wrong with you?”, and another immediately says “You know you like that shit”, adding to the gang-rapeyness something fierce.