PRUDES at the advertising watchdog have reversed their claims that a Calvin Klein poster of singer FKA twigs had “objectified” her.
The picture, which showed the star revealing her hip and sideboob, received only two complaints.
It was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority in January.
The watchdog said it showed FKA twigs as a “stereotypical sexual object” and was likely to cause serious harm or offence by objectifying the 36-year-old Brit.
But the ASA yesterday said the original reasons for the ban may have been “substantially flawed”.
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In a U-turn, the ASA said it “considers that the image was not sexually explicit, that the advert presented FKA twigs as confident and in control and, therefore, that she had not been objectified”.
After the ban, FKA twigs — real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett — had said: “I do not see the ‘stereotypical sexual object’ that they have labelled me.
"I see a beautiful strong woman of colour whose incredible body has overcome more pain than you can imagine.”
Calvin Klein called her a “confident and empowered woman” who had approved the picture pre-publication.
The ASA added: “The decision to revisit our original ruling took place in the context of the significant strength of public feeling, including views expressed by FKA twigs, in response to our findings, but was driven by our concern that our rationale for banning the ad was substantially flawed.”
But the ASA maintained the image was overtly sexual and not suitable for display in an “untargeted medium” so the ban remains on that point.