Calvin Klein and Mother court controversy with new global ‘sexting’ campaign

Is this the first mainstream ‘sexting’ campaign, if that’s not a contradiction in terms?

Mother New York has unveiled ‘Meet Us’ for Calvin Klein, highlighting the way young people think about love, dating and sex.

The multimedia campaign gives us unsparing details of real life stories from young people around the world, on non-traditional outdoor media using images shot by Mario Sorrenti.

It will also be one of the first brands permitted to advertise on social dating app Tinder as well as the usual social media suspects. Then there’ll be a Vice Media campaign. In all the campaign will run in 27 countries.

“Calvin Klein wanted to go beyond fashion’s traditional visually-driven advertising formula and instead start a conversation with young people,” says Mother partner and ECD, Michael Ian Kaye. “Mother hung out with kids living in today’s world and heard stories from best hook-ups to steamiest sexts, nothing was off limits. The result is a campaign that broaches online dating, open relationships, and complex sexuality, bringing to life the truths about modern love.”

Well there you go. Doubtless the campaign – particularly the same sex images – will cause a stink in certain quarters but that’s all part of the deal.

MAA creative scale: 8.