VIRGINIA BEACH, VA — It’s getting easier and easier to be prosecuted for obscenity in the state of Virginia. As one Abercrombie & Fitch retail shop manager has discovered, all it takes is a little bit of ass crack and some covered breasts.As the entire nation is coming to discover, Staunton, VA Commonwealth Attorney Ray Robertson wants to see hardcore pornography run out of his town dipped in tar and feathers while riding on a rail. But even he’s baffled by what’s going down in Virginia Beach.
More accurately, it’s what came down – as in two large promotional photographs in the windows of the Virginia Beach, VA Lynnhaven Mall Ambercrombie & Fitch. According to the Virginian-Pilot and other area publications, local police responded to complaints about the black-and-white posters and concluded that they violated the state’s obscenity code. They then demanded that the posters be removed and cited the store manager for misdemeanor obscenity.
At issue is a photo depicting a young woman and three young men walking quickly through tall grasses away from the camera. The jeans on the men hang low on their hips and, in one case, reveal the very top of his upper buttocks. Also offending the sensibility of Virginia Beach police is a second photo showing a young woman with her arm bent in front of her bare chest, obscuring the majority of their petite roundness. Although the press have indicated that the photo reveals “most” of the woman’s breast her nipples – which are said to be covered by her hands — both edited and unedited images available online indicate that only a small amount of her breast, close to her body, is visible, thanks not to her hands but to her strategically located elbow. The shop manager initially refused to remove the display, in spite of being warned that it might earn him a citation, but the posters were ultimately confiscated.
Robinson, who, along with others in positions of authority within Virginia State, appears to be confused about the difference between questionable taste, risqué material, indecency, obscenity, and free speech admits that he hasn’t seen the images in question, but can’t understand how they could be obscene. After all, “I would say that wearing the jeans so low that your crack shows wouldn’t get me hot and bothered.”
Indeed.
Nonetheless, the photos – which can also be seen in the retail chain’s New York City Fifth Avenue shop windows as well as its website – were determined to be “obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles,” according to police representative Adam Bernstein.
The unnamed shop manager is currently facing the possibility of up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted. Bernstein assured the Virginian-Pilot that citing the manager was necessary, since there is no legal way to issue a ticket to the business.
The provocative imagery hardly comes as a surprise to those who have watched Abercrombie & Fitch develop its sophisticated and boundary nudging marketing campaigns. In December, CEO Michael Jeffries informed Slate.com that his company was “all about sex,” a topic which he opined that “this country is cynical about.” Although it no longer releases a catalogue within the United States, due to obscenity prosecution threats in four states, the company plans to resume production of its quarterly catalogue in England this month. Previous releases have included interviews with porn stars, a college cocktail guide, and tips about three-ways.
UPDATE: Deputy City Attorney Mark Stiles has announced that the charges against the Lynnhaven Mall Ambercrombie & Fitch manager will be dropped. Although he assures the Associated Press that the images in question might meet some of the law’s standards, on technicalities, they do not meet enough of the criteria, including being offensive to prevailing community standards.
After a weekend silence, Ambercrombie & Fitch released a statement today stating that the promotional photos “show less skin than you see any summer day at the beach.”
