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Aug 06 2008 11:09 AM ET

Eva Mendes: Too Hot for Primetime TV

Steven Meisel/courtesy of Calvin Klein

Eva Mendes has never had a problem with nudity. But it seems America’s TV networks do. Afraid of offending viewers, they have banned the actress’s new fragrance spot — though an edited version may air after 10 pm. In the moodily-shot 30-second black-and-white commercial for the Calvin Klein scent Secret Obsession, Mendes appears without clothes, sometimes swathed in a sheet. “Between love and madness lies obsession,” the actress and CK underwear model, who also appears in print ads for the perfume, seductively whispers. “Love… madness. It’s my secret.” But the ban may boomerang, creating more sales by word-of-mouth according to those close to the brand. International viewers will get to see the commercial as creative director Fabien Baron originally shot it — and you can make up your own mind about the commercial by watching the original here.

Comments (30) + Add a comment

EVA MENDES IS “MUY BONITA.” REMEMBER, ‘MATTHEW 6:33.’ “PEACE & BLESSINGS.”

- Gerelle on August 6th, 2008

I am glad they baned the tv ad. Children watch tv

- faith on August 6th, 2008

I’m glad they banned it to. MY children are NEVER nude.

- Bill on August 6th, 2008

What is wrong with America??!!?? It’s just a commercial! Are people gone titsophobiac? There is nothing outrageous in this kind of commercials. Seeing spoil little brats in my sweet 16, or astupid bling dates TV shows in the middle of the afternoon should be more shocking than a commercial.
Play outside with your kids, have them take music lessons, entertain them, but please, stop making TV an sanitized asceptic boring media.

- Margie on August 6th, 2008

How ironic that a culture that airs some of the most violent images on Sunday afternoons during the football season has so much angst against the human body. For such a “values-conscience” society, its also ironic that America leads the western world with the highest rates of teenage pregnancy, std transmission amongst teenagers, etc., etc., etc.

Instead of these asinine knee-jerk reactions, America would be better served by actually talking and educating its youth about the human body. After all, its just a nude body…there are far more important things to worry about, like day…ending genocide in Darfur.

- Kay Lampe on August 6th, 2008

Offensive? I find AT&T’s and Stanley Steamer’s commercials showing dogs dragging their rear-ends across carpets much more offensive–enough so that I will never use their products.

- Panky on August 6th, 2008

I LOVE Eva Mendes, and I am no conservative…but I personally thought it was a little much. And hey, we already have a tit-happy culture…they’re a plenty of tit-friendly tv show and channels that air throughout the day and night. Using sexuality to sell products is the mantra of our society, and it’s getting old and tiring… especially when it’s women’s sexuality, not men’s, that is being exploited.

- Ella A. Umbrella on August 6th, 2008

People tend to use TV and music as a babysitter when they have children since so many parents are always on the go, and don’t have enough time to watch everything that their kids do. Granted, if I had a 5 year old child, I wouldn’t really want them watching that kind of thing, but as long as I’d have a talk with them about it, I don’t really see what the big deal is. And it’s a boob, anyway; a lot of children know what boobs look like.

- Anonymous on August 6th, 2008

Who cares? At the end of the day, all this will generate a ton of publicity. And publicity = $$$.

- Helena on August 6th, 2008

it’s a nipple people
i’ve seen worse on mtv

- lydia on August 6th, 2008

Come on people..!!
ALL of us are born naked!!
You are gonna tell me your kids haven’t seen you and/or your hosband/wife naked? or seen their siblings naked?
This is just STUPID!
What if your kids watch t.v. and see it? It’s just a girl naked, covered by a sheet, and she’s not showing anything she shouldn’t!
At least they’re not watching porn in Playboy tv…

- Samantha on August 6th, 2008

I think it is a beautiful photo. I have seen adds on TV that should not be there and this isnt one of them. As far as the comment about “MY children are NEVER nude”… You must not have meet a toddler that gets a kick out of running through the living room NUDE just to shock company. It has nothing to do with the photo.

- Rachael on August 6th, 2008

Bill, do you honestly expect us to believe that your children do not bathe nude like 99% of the world population?

- Mary on August 7th, 2008

I don’t get it. Why does America see it important to ban anything that even resembles the female body in its most toned form, yet it shows disgusting heavy set women in a joking manner and it’s okay? Americans are fat because anything that resembles an attractive woman must be covered by layers of clothing to make the fat people feel better.

- Luc on August 7th, 2008

that ain’t no woman, she’s a MAN baby!

- Jen on August 7th, 2008

first of all, to “bill” your kids are never nude? how do they take a bath? no one has seen a bare body before? how did you come into this world and how were you made? if the public is wanting this comerical banned then lets get some of these tv shows banned too! the reality ones,”family” sitcoms,mtv,g4 and yes even some disney shows….it’s up to you “parents” to show your kids these things, talk about these things, i have three sons two are teenagers, they have seen and heard it all, my husband and i decided that we were going to teach our kids about the human body and the facts of life, the “real” stuff, not abunch of crap like what you see on tv…

- sharron on August 8th, 2008

they have removed the origional from youtube so i didnt get to see it but she is a beautiful woman and as long as it comes on after 10pm i see no problem kids should be in bed because of school by then, also sex sells ever heard of it? jeesh! at least shes covered in this, besides noone can tell me men wouldnt especially watch this, guys love this stuff and theyre trying to get them to buy it for the women in their life.

- angel on August 8th, 2008

While I’m tempted to espond to the ridiculous comment that someone’s children are never nude, I feel that it needs not rebuttle: stupidity will sometimes mock its self so much that i need not.

As for the comment concerning the woman’s body being used to move products as opposed to the man’s, I have to disagree. Yes this has been the case in the past, but every sexual revolution that has occured in the past century has changed that a little. I mean, haven’t you seen David Beckam’s Armani underware ads? You can’t say that they aren’t using sex to move a product there.

- Anon. on August 9th, 2008

i would like to say that everybody was born nude!! so whats the big deal, your children i believe were breast fed?? how? did the kids get blind folded? kids see their mothers naked all the time.

- damaris on August 13th, 2008

I agree that it should be banned.

- Ayzlin on August 15th, 2008

Lay off Bill I think he was being sarcastic to poke fun at the absurbity of being ashamed of the naked body. However I do think that this ad is a bit much, it sends out a message that its fine to use sexuality to sell a perfume and I don’t agree with that.

- brigitte on August 20th, 2008

It is very sexy, I personally love Eva Mendes! Perhaps it could be reserved for the after 9 crowd but considering most children are given tv’s, laptops etc to watch in their bedrooms at night anyways, whats the point! Besides, nudity is nudity, its not vulgar and there are far worse things on TV all day long that are affecting the minds of todays children.

- Jody on August 20th, 2008

All across Europe you can open any mag and see topless women. Yet we are the ones with the high STD and teen pregnancy rates. Curiousity killed the cat. If you see a boob every time you turn on the tv or open a magazine it ceases to have any shock value, it just becomes a boob. I dont konw though, perhaps seeing a nipple, something they can look down their own shirt to see, will permanently damage them and turn them into sex crazed psychopaths. Right…

- AMSJLL on August 25th, 2008

Oh and I pretty sure Bill was being sarcastic people. Zoom! Right over your heads.

- AMSJLL on August 25th, 2008

Bill made an obvisouly sarcastic remark and most of you are all wound up by it, its quite funny. calm down, american tv shows far far worse things than a beautifully shot ad. as someone else on here wrote before me, you consider it ok for your kids to watch all the stupid shows on mtv, yet have a huge problem with them seeing a body in a commercial?? (and if you think your 15-16 year old hasn’t seen naked pictures without you knowing, you really need to think again. and they probably weren’t the pretty kind)

- petra on August 30th, 2008

wow i can’t believe this. a beautiful body but it is too much

- catherine on September 4th, 2008

This is from the company that brought us a sexy underage Brooke Shields decades ago, so this should not be shocking. Come on…haven’t we progressed at all? this is a grown woman selling a product to grown people. She’s a beautiful example of what a healthy, fit, sexy woman should look like. Get over it. Just keep your kids locked in a room with the blinds drawn.

- Erica on September 17th, 2008

Cheese and crackers people! What’s the big deal? It’s a naked body. Like nobody’s ever seen that before. And “Bill”, you’re an idiot. “My kids are NEVER nude.” What kind of a remark is that?

- Amanda on September 27th, 2008

[...] first Calvin Klein fragrance ads were so sexy that network television stations actually banned them from primetime! Now, the sultry star is back with more steamy ads for the fashion house. It [...]

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