This is How Real People Look in Calvin Klein Underwear

If you look at any Calvin Klein underwear ad, you’ll notice they all have something in common: every model has the stereotypical modelesque body, with almost no body fat, and muscles only in places where society has told us they should be.

I was shopping on the Nordstrom app and saw that Calvin Klein underwear was on sale. I added a pack to my cart, and texted my friend letting her know, but her response confused me.

She said, “I can’t wear Calvin Klein underwear. It isn’t made for me. Do you see the people in their underwear?”

Up until that point, I didn’t realize how much impact having unrealistic bodies in ads really has on people.

Anyone who lives in the real world knows that real people don’t look like the models in Calvin Klein underwear ads. The real world has love handles and thick thighs and full butts. It has stretch marks and “man boobs” and big bellies. The real world is short and tall and every height in-between. In the real world, some women have muscles, and some men don’t. In the real world, people aren’t perfectly photoshopped, and that’s perfectly okay.

So what do real people look like in Calvin Klein underwear?

It took me less than a day to convince real people to get in front of a camera wearing nothing but Calvin Klein underwear. After getting their sizes, I went back to the Nordstrom app to order more underwear.

That’s when things got more ridiculous.

Two of my friends who agreed to be in the shoot are big guys; they wear 2XL and 3XL size boxers. The model in the Nordstrom picture “wearing” the 2XL and 3XL boxers looked nothing like what men that size look like. Images below:

The day of the shoot, a few of the women who agreed to be in it dropped out. One of them said, “I just don’t feel confident enough in my body today.” That was so disappointing. Would she feel better about her body if Calvin Klein was more inclusive? If I can get a group of people of all shapes and sizes to be part of this project, there’s no doubt in my mind that Calvin Klein can do the same.

This is how real people look in Calvin Klein: