FRANCE — Leave it to the French to find ways to use nudity to sell chi chi clothing.French clothier Shai is combining two of the modern world’s favorite attractions: porn stars and the internet, in order to promote its $100 t-shirts.

Taking advantage of the powerful tech and speech freedoms still afforded by the Web, Shai has hired an assortment of France’s most beautiful porn stars to lounge about on a circular bed while wearing — and eventually not wearing — the company’s latest and greatest garments.

Clothes horses visiting the site can wave their mouse pointer over whichever article of clothing they find most appealing and then view a size chart and price listing.

Although its racy approach to marketing is what’s attracting the most attention, Shai has hit upon what many in the mainstream feel will be an online advertising trend by providing edgy, compelling, even radical content perfect for forwarding to friends. The fact that porn stars are helping to lead the way has some pundits grumbling, but Jeff Lanctot of Seattle-based ad agency Avenue A/Razorfish observing what industry insiders have said for years, “It’s another sign where pornography is right on the front lines of the new trends.”

The technology behind what is called “hotspotting” is still expensive and time-consuming, but companies like Shai are ready to embrace the exciting new way of layering commerce onto Web based video and willing to take it the extra step by including popular, if not publicly proclaimed, faces and bodies in its virgin effort to break from the pack of other advertisers who make up the $17-billion online market.

Chris Saridakis, chief executive officer for PointRoll, a unit of Gannett Co. publishing, admits that mainstream companies “look at porn and gambling and areas that most people don’t want to touch, but have interesting technology” and then look for ways to leverage their technological advances without being affected by their stigma.

Some, including Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus interactive ad agency in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, scoff at Shai’s ability to actually sell product while acknowledging its ability to attract attention. “At the end of the day,” Schafer insists, “it’s probably more entertaining to watch the porn than to think ‘Wow, those clothes look good!’ It almost takes attention away from what they’re trying to get you to pay attention to. It’s distracting and some will say reeks of desperation.”

Not everyone agrees, however, including Damon Crepin, creative director for Paris-based Agence 7, which is responsible for the advertisements. “What is important,” Crepin explains, “is that this is not a ‘push’ campaign. Every person seeing this is willing to see it. We would not have done this on TV, because on TV you push the message to people.”

Shai admits that the campaign hasn’t resulted in a tidal wave of new sales, but points to the sites 2 million visitors from 117 countries during the past four months as a sign of its success, pointing out that “The first goal wasn’t to sell directly, it was to develop notoriety,” according to company founder, Alexandre Maisetti. “We will see next season if people like the brand. People are looking at us, but it takes time for people to come in and buy some stuff.”

Online forum comments suggest that once European visitors finish watching the cavorting, they start looking at the clothing. The question now, of course, is who U.S. visitors will react to the site and the possibility of similar content being used for other campaigns and purposes.

Naturally, opponents of nudity and the adult industry see ads such as Shai’s as another sign that the end is surely near.

“It has nothing to do with clothes,” Cincinnati-based Citizens for Community Values president Phil Burress insists. “It’s nothing new to use sex to sell product, but when you start talking about nudity and sexual activity, that is way beyond what is acceptable in our popular culture.”

Burress’ organization took out full-page newspaper ads two years ago to voice its outrage at nudity in the Abercrombie and Fitch catalog.

Nonetheless, American retailers are watching the Shai campaign carefully, with American Apparel advertising executive Alexandra Spunt not expressing disgust but admitting that “It wouldn’t go over well in the states. I don’t disagree with combining the mediums of porn and advertising and the internet. I just like keeping a little bit of mystery. Often, that’s a little bit sexier.”