What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
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   Wednesday, September 29, 2004

HEY! GET A ROOM!

In the years since Calvin Klein's famous giant underwear model billboard in 1981, New Yorkers are probably immune to the provocative sexual imagery in his ad campaigns.

But now there's a new billboard that's certainly made everyone look twice. The ad is undeniably
a) memorable
b) hot!
c) going too far
Even the blogger who posted it says, "I'm no prude, but come on!"

We can't be too surprised, though -- has everyone forgotten CK's infamous "rec room" campaign in 1995? In a weird way, Klein is almost providing a public service: by constantly pushing the envelope on sexual imagery, he forces the public to consider and decide exactly what is or isn't acceptable. Most porn laws, after all, are based on vague labels of "community standards" so it's good to have a debate once in a while.

Just as long as he doesn't pat himself on the back for it. In a 1984 Playboy interview, Klein declared:

What I'm going to say may seem pretentious, but 20 or 30 years from now, I believe someone may look at all the commercials I've done and view them as a vignette of the times, a reflection of what people were thinking, the moods of today.

Well, it's been twenty years but the thoughts seem exactly the same.