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The fashion giant admitted that using a straight model kissing a female digital avatar to sell clothes was a questionable choice.
Calvin Klein addressed criticism of a recently released advertisement showing supermodel Bella Hadid making out with Lil Miquela, an artificial female "influencer" that's been described as both a digital avatar and a robot.
The ad, part of the "I Speak My Truth" campaign, encourages people (and, ostensibly, shoppers) to embrace their vulnerabilites.
"Life is about opening doors," Hadid says as Lil Miquela strolls towards her. "Creating new dreams you never knew could exist," Hadid says before the two peer into each other eyes and kiss before the lights dim.
As Teen Vogue points out, some found the commercial exploitative.
\u201cwe want actual representation and not using this community to sell your product by exploitation\u201d— \ud83c\udf37 (@\ud83c\udf37) 1558278458
Calvin Klein released a statement on Friday addressing the criticism and said company officials "regret any offense we caused."
\u201cHere at CALVIN KLEIN, we welcome all types of constructive feedback from our community. We see your comments and we appreciate them. We'd like to offer our thoughts in response to comments on our campaign video featuring Bella Hadid and Lil Miquela.\u201d— calvinklein (@calvinklein) 1558133776
