Calvin Klein’s recent decision to pull advertisements with teen-agers questionably clothed is a prime example of how the American free marketplace is supposed to operate.

Instead of lengthy legislation and expensive court battles, consumer outrage and the threat of lost profits prompted the design company to rescind advertising some considered inappropriate.

While American consumers have been exposed to risque advertising that is much more demeaning than the Calvin Klein ads with youngsters dressed in a “grown up” manner, it’s nice to see that free market competition works in theory on occasion.

Calvin Klein was under no direct obligation to pull the ads and probably could have won a legal battle.

But the company did not continue the campaign because possible consumer action could have meant a diminished profit margin.

The consumer uproar and Calvin Klein’s subsequent decision is a modern-day demonstration that the invisible hand economic model can work even in a period of massive government bureaucracy and huge federal spending measures.