In 2024, The Bear star Jeremy Allen White posed in his Calvins, while musician FKA Twigs also fronted a 2023 underwear campaign. The latter was banned in some markets, igniting controversy and a discussion about double standards in acceptable marketing.
CK’s latest campaign comes as its parent group, PVH, hit $2.3 billion in revenues in the three months to December 2025. During its investor update, chief financial officer (CFO) Zac Coughlin said the business was continuing on its journey to make CK and its sister brand Tommy Hilfiger “into the most desirable lifestyle brands in the world.”
Advertising through the male gaze
CK’s suggestive Johnson ad follows a debate around the return of the “male gaze” in advertising.
The last year has seen some U..S. brands make a controversial return to sexualized marketing catered to men, which was an industry norm until the mid-2000s, perpetuated by advertisers ranging from Abercrombie & Fitch to GoDaddy.
Examples include Dr. Squatch, which encouraged 1 million people to enter a competition to win bars of soap made from actor Sydney Sweeney’s bathwater, and American Eagle, which ran ads focusing on Sweeney’s individual body parts and showed her performing for an unknown camera man.
More recently, Carl’s Jr. revived “I Love Paris,” its original Paris Hilton–fronted car wash campaign that made headlines and sparked calls for censorship in 2005.
