Calvin Klein Jeans Ad Suggesting Sexual Assault Banned in Australia

[ 10/22/2010 ]

A Calvin Klein Jeans advertisement featuring supermodel Lara Stone has been banned in Australia over concerns that it evokes violence and sexual assault. According to the Daily Mail, the ad shows Stone with three male models, her head resting on one man’s lap and her legs draped over another. After the image appeared on billboards across the country, sexual violence prevention and women’s groups lodged numerous complaints. A spokesperson for Australia’s advertising standards board criticized the image, saying it evoked violence and sexual assault and demeaned both women and men. Psychologist Alison Grundy, who specializes in treating survivors of sexual assault, said using sexual assault as a marketing device was “a very dangerous idea.” She warned that if future generations are continually exposed to violent and sexually assaultive images in pornography, films, computer games and advertising, sexual violence against women and children would continue.