Calvin Klein

A Calvin Klein advertisement

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, and 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)