Legal News

Virginia to Abercrombie & Fitch: Clean Up Your Advertising!

By Dan Slater

Abercrombie & Fitch, the 115-year-old clothing company that’s gained notoriety for its risque advertisements showcasing scantily-clad youngsters, has run up against more, um, image problems.

On Saturday, police in Virginia carted away two promotional photographs from the A&F store in Virginia Beach’s Lynnhaven Mall (the picture above wasn’t one of them). Under a local ordinance making it a crime to display “obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles,” the store’s manager, who police say had failed to heed warnings to remove the photographs, was issued a citation. If convicted, the manager reportedly faces a fine of up to $2,000 and as much as a year in jail. Here are stories from the AP and the Virginian-Pilot.

One of the photos features three shirtless young men viewed from the back, walking through a field. The man in the lead appears to pulling up his jeans, which have slipped down enough to reveal his upper buttocks. (The image can be found on A&F’s website.) The other image is of a topless woman whose “breast is displayed with her hand covering just the nipple portion,” said the spokesman for the police department. “You could still pretty much see the rest of the breast.”

In a statement, A&F spokesman Tom Lennox said: “The marketing images in question show less skin than you see any summer day at the beach. And certainly less than the plumber working on your kitchen sink. This is an incredible over-reaction. . . . We will pursue our legal rights aggressively and fully expect to prevail.”

This isn’t the first time that A&F’s marketing materials have put the company in hot water. In 2003, A&F halted publication of its catalog because of complaints about sexually suggestive photographs by award-winning photographer Bruce Weber. In 2004, it agreed to pay $50 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of promoting whites over minorities and cultivating a virtually all-white image.

OK, Law Blog readers, does A&F have any good defenses here? We know about the Supreme Court’s Miller standard, which defines obscenity as material that is prurient, patently offensive, and lacking in scientific, literary, artistic, or political (”SLAP”) value. Any SLAP value here?’

Update: This just in: The Virginia Beach deputy city attorney said Monday afternoon that police will seek to drop the charges against A&F. Here’s the Virginian-Pilot story. According to the story, city officials said thought it would be difficult to meet certain standards of the obscenity law.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 04, 2008 (boomark / email).