European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 26, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse But a few ads like those for obsession and other Calvin Klein products Are nearly As steamy As a rated movies. The search for the Boundary lines of propriety has evolved into a process that is part test part tease and part double dare say Industry executives consumer behaviour its advertising critics and academics. The goal is for the advertiser and Agency to find the right tone and Shock level a for their product. When that happens sex Sells in a big Way lever 2000, for example has had one of the most successful soap introductions in years. But there is a danger in being risque at the wrong time and possibly turning off Consumers or mis positioning a product. Consumers sent outraged letters a couple of years ago for example when some magazines ran a Nivea skin Cream and that exposed a woman s breast. Quot there s very Little to gain and a lot to lose by doing something just to be provocative Quot Sitts said. Added Dan Fox executive vice president of Foote Cone amp Belding in Chicago Quot if you aim to be a Large successful mass marketed Brand you can to work the fringes. If you work the fringes you by definition alienate the big potential Market out what s More the fringe keeps getting farther out As ads that have Shock value today lose their sting by tomorrow. A notorious 116-Page and supplement from Galvin Klein now defines the outer limits. Distributed with some copies of the october Issue of vanity fair the supplement was chock Block with images of men and women touching themselves and each other. If readers Are offended and throw Down a Magazine say other advertisers lose their audience As Well. Risky or not the new emphasis on showing the human body in ads is being pushed by a variety of changes in society at Large including the health and fitness craze the influence of Franker european attitudes on american culture and the growing preponderance of homoerotic imagery in the mainstream. Sexually graphic material in movies and on television has also played a role As has the Slickly sensual Quality of music videos shown on mtg. And some of the push stems from a growing need for release at least on a fantasy level at a time when people Are becoming More guarded about the real thing. Quot we Are a society going in different directions at the same time Quot said Judith Langer who Heads Langer associates a Market research consulting firm in new York. Is. Langer noted that sexual behaviour and attitudes and experts say that Calvin klan above Haa bean hugely Suc Casaul by appealing to tha Young and Brandy Seta with Provo Calva and controversial images. Seem to be More conservative of late due in part to the aids epidemic yet Quot if people Are becoming More monogamous Quot she added Quot their fantasy lives their desire to act out vicariously will be even greater. We at least want to flirt with the idea there is a More risque Type of life Quot for now the flirtation is still tame at least compared with european advertising where there is no bar to full frontal male and female nudity. Indeed there is plenty of self censorship going on Here a reflection of the Industry s traditional timidity and fear of getting too far ahead of the society it is Selling to Quot i d hate to use the phrase a cowardly institution but advertising Seldom swims against the tide Quot said professor Eric Zanot who teaches advertising at the University of Maryland. Quot it will go As far As society goes Quot a advertising is a distorted Mirror it in t always accurate Quot he added. Quot but in general it s a reflection of the reflection appears to be close to the Mark when it comes to sexual material judging by the level of consumer acceptance. Unlike the juror that usually greets television programming with sexually explicit Content there has generally been Little Public outcry against skin filled advertising notwithstanding the letters inspired by the Nivea and. For the most part ads that controversial never reach the Public or at least the part of the Public that might be outraged by them. That is because the Media playing their part in the tug of War Over How explicit advertising will be sometimes refuse to accept them. A recent example came in july when skiing magazines rejected print ads for Nordica sports systems that showed a Man and a woman in profile nude except for their Nordica ski boots. It was no Accident after All that the Calvin Klein supplement was distributed by vanity fair a soul mate of the trendy designer. The supplement almost certainly would have been rejected or heavily altered by other mainstream publications to Koop matters within Bounds Many advertisers Are stepping up the pre testing of their material with Small consumer panels called focus groups. Earlier this year for example j. Walter Thompson brought the nascent lever 2000 Campaign to Nashville a Quot not exactly the Liberal heart of America Quot As Sitts put it a for pre testing. The response people in the focus groups Felt the teasing body shots Quot fit in Sitts said. Given permission As it were by the people of Nashville to use skin to sell soap Thompson began rolling out the ads across the country. The reaction in Nashville represents Quot a general loosening in people s attitudes toward bodies a Sitts said. Could Sitts envision a time when an and for lever 2000 would show buttocks which Are now Only alluded to in its Campaign Quot sure i could see that Quot he said. But some in the Industry fear that Calvin Klein s vanity fair supplement produced in House by Klein has dangerously raised the stakes by already showing Cheeks a and More. Quot if anything goes in programming and in print How Long a a Paris court allowed clothing maker Benetton to keep this billboard and 1,300 others like it. Before anything goes in advertising7&Quot asked Dewitt f Helm jr., president of the association of National advertisers in a speech at the group s recent annual meeting in Phoenix Quot i think we be already reached that Point Quot in the Calvin Klein supplement Klein has been the agent provocateur in pushing advertising s boundaries for a decade Ever since fits to spots for jeans had Brooke Shields disclosing that nothing came Between tier and her yet even seasoned advertising professionals were taken Aback by the vanity fair supplement which consisted of photographs by Bruce Weber known for ins frankly sexual work in both the realms of Art and Commerce among its images two men lying near each other on a bed one with his hand on his knee the other with his hand inside his pants another a Man pressing a Bare bottomed woman against a Fence Zanot thinks that most people would find Klein s ads Quot Over the Edge Quot but he hastened to add Quot i can see Why he is doing indeed a trend setter like Klein wants to be As controversial As possible Industry experts say. Quot when he s seeming to be provocative and outrageous to most people he s right on strategy for Young people Quot said Sitts. Quot he s perpetuating this image that everything with the Calvin Klein name on it is hip and contemporary Quot other advertisers who target younger and hipper Consumers Are following Klein s Lead. In most cases these too Are companies Selling products like cosmetics fragrances and clothing that lend themselves to racy presentations. Quot a fragrance does t do anything Quot said Robert Green vice president of advertising for the Calvin Klein cosmetics corp., which markets obsession and other Calvin Klein fragrances. Quot it does no to Stop wetness. It does t unclog your Drain. To create a fantasy for the consumer is what fragrance is about. And sex and Romance Are a big part of where people s fantasies tend to the fantasies also tend to run these Days to perfectly sculpted bodies Courtesy of the growing emphasis on health and fitness in recent years. Ads that put spectacular bodies on display give Consumers a Chance to see Quot what they Are working out to get to Quot said Dick Tarlow president of Tarlow advertising in new York which creates advertising for Revlon s cosmetics and Beauty products. Quot they a like to believe they re looking at their body in the future a this attitude is Quot More like a european interest and reverence for the body than we be had in the past a added David May vice president for marketing for Lancaster group u s a., which is introducing cosmetics and fragrance products in the United states with a spate of provocative campaigns. May a company is a subsidiary of a German concern Lancaster a. Indeed nudity in advertising has been far More common in Europe than in this country closing the nudity Gap is a sign that in advertising As in areas like fashion and food America is becoming More european in part simply because More american advertising agencies and consumer products companies Are now owned by europeans. Still America la not Yat entirely european Zed. Advertising for a Lancaster a fragrance called Davidoff relax Quot probably would not run in this country Quot said May Quot because of the nudity Quot of the three men and two women in those ads. Meanwhile Calvin Klein is staking out territory All Over the marketing spectrum. For Consumers who balk at the graphic imagery in obsession ads there is a much toned Down Campaign for eternity a fragrance that he brought out in 1988 the latest television spots for eternity show a couple with children cavorting at the Beach As Blossom Dearie sings a Wistful child like song As shocking As the vanity fair supplement was the ads for Klein s expensive designer clothing Are just As conservative and straight. And he has just introduced escape his third line of fragrances with imagery that combines elements of the obsession and eternity pitches. Escape s ads Are Quot very erotic Quot Green said but they re not in any Way perverse erotic or simply a Little bit naughty sexy ads Are clearly Here to stay. Quot there is always going to be sex in advertising Zanot said Quot for the simple reason that it s just one of our Basic Strong emotions and advertisers Are always looking for Basic emotions to attach to products in order to sell them Quot february 26, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 15
