So I’m strolling through the mall with my three kids, ages 6, 6 and 6, when a sideways glance into Abercrombie & Fitch reveals a giant poster featuring a backside view of three bare-chested male models, the lead one of whom is revealing what can best be described in polite circles as plumber’s butt. Trailing the three men is a blonde-haired woman, only partially visible, who’s wearing the suggestion of nakedness.
Now, I realize that Abercrombie & Fitch does this sort of thing all the time to garner attention, but I couldn’t help wondering as the four of us walked by the four in the poster whether the retailer was catching any heat for this display.
I wonder no longer.
From the Virginia Pilot:
Police, saying they were responding to citizen complaints, carted away two large promotional photographs from the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Lynnhaven Mall on Saturday and cited the manager on obscenity charges.
Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman, said the seizure and the issuance of the summons came only after store management had not heeded warnings to remove the images.
Now I appreciate that standards and sensibilities differ from region to region and I have no understanding at all of what might offend the typical shopper in Virginia Beach.
But legally obscene? Do they have magazine racks in Virginia Beach? Get the Internet?
The poor store manager could serve a year in prison, according to the story, and they don’t wear Abercrombie & Fitch in the big house.
It so happens that my kids didn’t see the poster, not as a result of my shielding them from the image but because we were making a beeline to the Lego store. (One kit there cost $500: Talk about obscene.)
However, had my kids been clamoring for overpriced threads instead of overpriced toys, I wouldn’t have hesitated to bring them into that store. Wouldn’t have fazed them in the least.
Only grownups get freaky over a little plumber’s butt.
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