Clearing Up Some Misunderstandings
by Chaim Dovid Zwiebel
Pity poor Calvin Klein. The popular designer's intentions
are pure and noble, but some people just don't seem to get it.
Mr. Klein's puzzling problem first surfaced a few years ago,
when public outcry led him to discontinue an ad campaign for
CK Calvin Klein Jeans that featured teen-agers in immodest
poses. Hurt and bewildered, he took out a full-page ad in
The New York Times explaining what should have been
obvious to any intelligent person -- that the ads conveyed
a "positive message" about "the spirit, independence and inner
worth of today's young people" -- and bemoaning the fact that
the message "has been misunderstood by some."
And now, further misunderstandings have prompted the designer
once again to change his ad campaign. As recently reported
in the Times, out are the dark CK ads that look as
if they were photographed in the admitting room at the local
drug rehab center; in are new cheerful ads featuring healthy
looking people actually wearing smiles on their faces. "Clearly
people were upset by 'heroin chic'," Mr. Klein explained.
"We thought it was creative, but it was perceived as drug
addicts and messy. People don't want that now."
Misunderstanding piled upon misunderstanding -- the muddled
masses keep missing the message!
At Least the Courts Understand
Happily, though, the news is not all bad for Calvin Klein.
Without spending a penny on lawyers' fees -- zacha, m'lachto
na'asis al y'dei acheirim -- he won a major legal victory
earlier this year that should give him some solace amidst
all the misunderstanding.
It appeared, for a while, that Mr. Klein would face yet another
roadblock in his estimable efforts to deliver positive messages
about today's youth: the decision this past fall by the New
York City Metropolitan Transit Authority no longer to accept
certain types of bus, subway and billboard ads, including
those that "a significant segment of the public" would find
"patently offensive, improper or in bad taste." How's that
again -- "a significant segment of the public"?! Those are
the very same dunderheads who are unable to appreciate the
creative genius of heroin chic! Horrors!
But fear not, noble Calvin, this is the land of the free and
the home of the brave, sweet land of liberty, where free speech
is the first constitutional freedom enshrined in the Bill
of Rights. Indeed, it did not take long for a court to undermine
the legal foundation upon which the MTA's new policy was predicated.
Thus, when the MTA sought to reject a satirical bus ad placed
by New York Magazine shortly after the agency had adopted
its new guidelines, the magazine filed a federal lawsuit and
obtained a judicial injunction requiring placement of the
ad. By a vote of 2-1 (and against the position of Agudath
Israel of America, which had submitted a "friend of the court"
brief in support of the MTA), the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled
in January 1998 that the side of a bus is a "public forum"
for First Amendment free speech purposes -- making it extremely
difficult for a quasi-governmental agency like the MTA to
reject ads based on their content.
Admittedly, the MTA's "patently offensive" standard remains
on the books, and the agency may still choose to enforce that
standard the next time an advertiser seeks to hawk its wares
in ways the broad public seems likely to misunderstand. But
the Court of Appeals ruling will surely give the MTA substantial
pause before doing so. Creative juices are not so easily stilled.
Who Says We're Intolerant?
Mr. Klein can also take comfort from another source: the
cash register. The public may be missing the message of his
advertisements, but they're buying his goods anyway. In the
All-American spirit of tolerance, the masses are not about
to let a little misunderstanding harm their relationship with
their favorite designer.
It is especially touching that this tolerant spirit pervades
even communities like ours. The heart warms at the publication
in recent editions of periodicals geared towards the charedi
community of an advertisement for a "men's boutique" (Aargh!)
in the heart of an Orthodox neighborhood featuring Calvin
Klein and several other of the "world's finest designers."
The eyes mist over at the sight of Calvin Klein designer eyeglass
frames being sold by opticians who cater virtually exclusively
to an Orthodox clientele. The chest swells with pride at
the appearance of yarmulke/shaitel-bedecked Jews wearing
"T-shirts" -- long-sleeved for the women, of course -- emblazoned
with the CK logo.
One might have thought, after all, with all the misperception
surrounding Calvin Klein's ads, that he might find a less
hospitable reception in communities like ours. One might
have worried, perhaps, that someone who has been assaulted
by one of Mr. Klein's creative expressions while walking alongside
a city bus might find it incongruous to recite kadosh,
kadosh, kadosh while dressed in his clothing, or to dry
his hands with a designer CK towel upon blessing Hashem who
has sanctified us with His mitzvos.
One might have expected that Orthodox Jews aware (but not
understanding) of Mr. Klein's ad campaigns might take steps
to alert their brethren to the mockery this man has made of
the most elementary standards of human decency, and the terrible
harm he has inflicted upon every Jew who has been exposed
to his filth. One might have anticipated that some individuals,
and perhaps even organized groups, might choose to boycott
Calvin Klein products.
But no, none of this has happened. By all appearances, Calvin
Klein is doing quite well in our community -- proof positive
that all those stories about Orthodox Jews being intolerant
are nothing but myths and vicious lies. Like Calvin Klein,
you see, we're just terribly misunderstood.
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