YNOT – Pairing charity and nudity, NZ Girl, a New Zealand online magazine, asked its readers to post pictures of their breasts in return for a donation to breast cancer research — and in so doing, sparked a firestorm of controversy about both.

The “I’ve Got a Lovely Pair” campaign was designed to give women a platform for self-actualization and to make a difference to a charitable organization that serves primarily women. The campaign achieved its goal of posting 250 images within days; consequently, a $5,000 donation to a breast cancer charity will be made as soon as NZ Girl readers weigh in on their favorite among three choices.

“It’s about celebrating,” NZ Girl Editor Tee Twyford told News3.co.nz. “You know, we’ve all got them. It’s not exploitation. We’ve given women a platform.

“It’s really about driving awareness,” she added.

The controversy ramped up when some of the user-submitted images appeared without permission on Xtube.com and several other adult websites. Although some of the participants — and quite a few non-participants who took exception to the whole idea of the campaign — were offended by the photos’ illicit use, many campaign supporters took the position “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” The volume of traffic generated by adult websites sites crashed NZ Girl’s server, possibly proving their point.

“Are they just driving traffic to their website?” breast cancer survivor Helena McAlpine told New3.co.nz. “Yes, of course they are. It’s a marketing campaign [for NZ Girl] more than anything.”

Other observers objected to the competitive nature of the campaign, which encouraged viewers to rate the bare bosoms.

“The ratings are bunk and a bad idea,” a user named maxwelton wrote on the community weblog MetaFilter.com. “99.99% of the world’s women are going to have breasts that are perfectly fine with those lucky enough to have the opportunity to gander at them.”