Fbi Launches Probe Of Klein Ads Agency Studying Whether Ads Broke Child Pornography Laws

The FBI is investigating whether critics of Calvin Klein’s latest hot-blooded ad campaign for jeans were on to something when they branded it kiddie porn.

The TV and print ads, some showing young people striking suggestive poses in little more than underwear, were dropped under pressure from both the public and the retail industry Aug. 28 after running less than two months.

That seemed to lay the matter to rest. But on Friday, Justice Department spokesman Carl Stern said the agency began investigating shortly after the campaign started to see whether the ads broke child pornography laws.

At least one model, whose mother liked the ads, was a minor.

“Investigating something like this is not unusual,” Stern said.

John Russell, spokesman for the Justice Department’s criminal division, said the probe is in “very preliminary stages” and the FBI hasn’t even questioned Calvin Klein officials.

A Klein spokesman said only: “We are confident that we have not violated any laws.”

Klein has long been known for risque advertisements, such as a 1980 spot featuring a 15-year-old Brooke Shields cooing, “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.”

One of the latest ads showed a youth dressed only in a denim vest and underwear. Another showed a young woman in a short skirt with her legs spread apart and the crotch of her white panties showing.

Federal law prohibits “lascivious exhibitions of the genitals or pubic area of a minor,” according to Patrick Trueman, a former head of the Justice Department’s child pornography and exploitation division, who now works for the conservative American Family Association.

One federal appeals court has ruled that the law may be broken even if a child is clothed. But several defense attorneys said the government would not have a strong case.

“The government is bowing to political pressure and misusing the child pornography laws,”’ said Norman Siegel of the New York Civil Liberties Union. “There is no evidence that the models were sexually abused, and the ads, whatever you think of them, don’t descend to obscene.”