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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 193.191.210.10 (talk) at 06:47, 11 August 2005 (→Advertising: A.Sabtao Jr. also launched from underware to Hollywood). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Calvin Klein (born November 19, 1942, The Bronx, New York City, New York, United States) as Richard Klein, is a well-known fashion designer. His name is also a brand name of clothing marketed by his clothing company, which was launched in 1968.

The Calvin Klein company, like many in the fashion industry, is known for its eye-catching advertising. It is noted by many conservative organizations for its use of seemingly-underage models in pseudo-provocative poses.

In addition to clothing, Calvin Klein also gave his name to a range of perfumes, including CK One and CK Be (fragrances for everyone, regardless of gender), now owned by Unilever.

Advertising

• Calvin Klein's advertising campaigns are frequently controversial, but prove this can be very successful - to the point of making a blitz carreer, as his male underwear model Mark Wahlberg went on to fame as first-ever white hip hop star 'Marky Mark' and even as a real 'hunky' Hollywood star, so the inverse of the usual expensive hiring of famous people to model! Another Hollywood star owing his respectable carreer (after some barely noticed porn appearances, since diswoned) to the Calvin Klein advertisements showing off his gorgeous physique in underware is hot, 'dark' looking Latino Antonio Sabato Jr..

Such blatant exposure of male flesh (before only girls were commonly used as sexy attributes), sometimes even completely bared, became a major trend in advertising world-wide except where censorship or the taste of the public don't allow it.

• They also play with emerging technologies. When advertising cKone perfume in 1999, they employed a very unusual and groundbreaking campaign that displayed e-mail addresses in print advertisements, targeted at teenagers (such as anna@ckone.com or nick@ckone.com). When these teens mailed these addresses, they would be placed on a mailing list that sent them mails with vague details about the models' lives, with fake details meant to make them more relatable. These mails came at unpredictable intervals, and were supposed to give readers the feeling that they had some connection with these characters. Though the mailing lists were discontinued in 2002, the campaign has inspired similar marketing tactics for movies and other retail products.

See also

• Sex in advertising

External link

• Extensive archive of Calvin Klein ads
• Dying Scent of an E-mail Advertising Campaign (Wired, Feb. 13, 2002)

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