Calvin Klein's ads were definitely in bad taste.

I remember a couple in particular that were from the ones the NYT archive article was speaking of, in which guys who were obviously under 18 (like 14-15) were posed very provocatively in very skimpy underwear that didn't leave a whole lot to the imagination.

At the time, they were arguing that it was "artsy" and so forth... but they were also quick to pull the ads when they generated a lot of heat.

My question is where were the parents of the kids posing in these ads? They were under 18, so clearly a parent was supposed to be present, and I have a hard time imagining a parent being OK with their kid being posed that way.