Calvin Klein: Still sleazy after all these years

Calvin Klein's latest ad campaign sparked controversy this week when a giant, sexually explicit billboard was plastered on a building in New York's SoHo neighborhood. Residents called the image (which depicts four half naked young adults, touching and making out) "borderline pornographic" and "obscene," and many usually liberal-minded New Yorkers felt the oversized pic sent the wrong message to teens, especially girls. As of now, the ad is still up and it's probably selling lots of jeans.

This is far from the first time Calvin Klein has pushed the envelope with erotic, possibly inappropriate and exploitative advertising. Actually, this "let's throw teenagers into very sexual situations in order to sell our crap" is a game this retailer has been playing at for decades. Consider Brooke Shields, at 15 years old, provocatively explaining how there was nothing between her and her Calvins. Or Kate Moss, all bone-skinny and completely nude, selling us Obsession perfume. Or how about, THE WORST AD CAMPAIGN OF ALL TIME, from 1995, which featured teenagers prancing around in a dingy, paneled room while a creepy older man asked them probing questions. (Check out the video below, as one Shine staffer said, "Watching that made me feel unclean.")

We rounded up some of CK's most sordid, suggestive, and iconic ads in our slideshow. Are these images damaging to teens? Demeaning to women? Bad for society as a whole? We're not sure, in fact, we're guessing not, but we don't always like the cut of their jib.

Sources: Daily News, Globe and Mail