In Virginia Beach the same marketing photos have gotten an A&F store manager charged with obscenity:
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.Retailers, especially those trying to appeal to the young "hip" set, feel they need to scream above the surrounding clutter by using such graphics and photos. Have you ever seen a French Connection United Kingdom store? Their graphics usually consist of the first letter of each word in their name displayed in 3-foot tall print. When spotted out of the corner of your eye, or even when looking directly, it looks like the store is shouting an obscenity at you.
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.
The citation was issued under City Code Section 22.31, Bernstein said, which makes it a crime to display "obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles." He did not say what was being done with the pictures and when the manager, whose name was not released, is scheduled to appear in court.
The manager, reached by telephone, declined to comment on the incident Saturday, saying that he was conferring with and waiting for guidance from Abercrombie corporate officials.
The mural-like black-and-white photographs were taken from the store at midafternoon.
Some call it clever marketing. I call it a lack of imagination.
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