,(:>):
Posted on 02/03/2008 8:42:32 AM PST by XR7
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.
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.
Bernstein confirmed that one depicts three shirtless young men from the back, walking through a field. The man in the lead appears to be about to pull up his jeans, which have slipped down enough to reveal his upper buttocks.
The same image is displayed on the Abercrombie Web site.
The other image is of a woman who is topless and whose "breast is displayed with her hand covering just the nipple portion," Bernstein said. "You could still pretty much see the rest of the breast."
The seizure was "prompted by several customer complaints, and the management of Abercrombie & Fitch was notified of those complaints," Bernstein said.
The company's corporate offices in New Albany, Ohio, were closed Saturday and no officials could be reached for comment.
Bernstein said the summons for a Class One misdemeanor was issued to the manager because there is no legal way to issue a summons to a corporate entity in such circumstances. The manager was not arrested but faces a fine of up to $2,000 and as much as a year in jail, if convicted.
Bernstein said that in a meeting last week with store management, the officer - who is assigned to routine patrol of the mall - said he understood it was a corporate decision as to what would be displayed in the stores. But he explained that that didn't exempt the local store from complying with the city code.
Bernstein said management was told specifically: "We want those advertising signs taken down."
When the officer returned to the store Saturday, Bernstein said, he found that the pictures were still in place.
Abercrombie & Fitch has earned a reputation for its risqué catalogues and promotional photography featuring scantily clothed models.
In 2003, the company halted publication of its 7-year-old A&F Quarterly catalog because of complaints about sexually suggestive photographs by award-winning photographer Bruce Weber.
Steve Stone, (757) 446-2309, steve.stone@pilotonline.com
Exploiters of children.
Lock 'em up!
Agree or disagree?
Have you ever been in one of those stores? Their large size wouldn’t fit a Barbie doll...and that’s before it’s washed.
what great free publicity for them....
They need it too, they are closing a few stores.
The Va-Beach police have given Ab-Fitch exactly what they were looking for....free publicity. That’s what they do with their “edgy” advertising.
Are their ads pushing the lines of taste? Yes. Obscene? It’s in the eye of the beholder...there are places where Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition is obscene.
Posing as the cure, no doubt.
Thanks for the tip. Mrs ASA Vet is a size 00 or smaller. I'll take her there forthwith.
How, if not locking 'em up?
I am unaware of any definition of obscene that been held as constitutional that these ads would meet. There is neither nudity not sexual content in either of them.
Virginia Beach is going to end up owing Abercrombie quite a bit of money if they persist with this prosecution.
Bring earplugs...the music is so loud you can’t hear yourself think.
Butt Crack?
If you can get charges for pictures of that then I know of several consturction workers/plumbers who probably would make the FBI's top ten most wanted list, for real-time obscenity charges.
I’m certain that they broke out the emergency fax machines at A&F headquarters after this decision was made. They can’t wait for this type of stuff to happen so they can remind everyone they still exist.
The “models” are young enough that I am surprised Abercronbie isn’t charged with manufacturing kiddie porn.
I’ve walked by the images plenty of times, and I would have to agree. For a CLOTHING store, they advertise alot of skin.
It might as well have been a softcore porn shop. And frankly, I was suprised they weren’t charged with such things earlier.
All the VBPD needs to do is contact Arlen Spectors office.
Exploiters of children.
Lock ‘em up!
This is a mall that has little signs up all around that have %@*! with a “no” sign over it.
And it is enforced with fines + removal from the area. (If the wrong person hears you that is.)
lol
I cannot go into their store, when we walk pass it in MacArthur Mall the smell gives me a headache, I can’t imagine going in. And my husband says their clothes are gay.
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I once was approached by a teenage girl outside of the A&F store in downtown Portland, OR. She wanted me to go in and buy her an A&F catalog (with her money - $3). You had to be over 18 to do so and apparently she wasn’t quite there yet. I kept looking around for Allen Funt. The whole thing seemed ridiculous but at the same time quite clever.
They desensitive children to sexuality to me. It’s not the ‘beauty of the naked body’ they promote, it’s pre-adult sexual scenes. Or alluding to that.
And I still haven’t figured out how showing LESS clothes sells MORE clothes.
How about “get over it”????
Unfortunately, it looks like some court, some judge, will have to apply some arbitray, subjective standard to the content of the posters and rule one way or the other on this affront to public morality.
Why don’t parents keep their kids out of A&F if they don’t like the marketing? Why don’t they exercise their economic clout, and stop buying from A&F?
At this point, put me down for disagree... We’ve got bigger fish to fry.
their catalogue showed full topless girls and butt shots of guys and girls. you had to be 18 to get it and it was shrinkwrapped. i could never understand why a store that sells clothing would have nude models but i got over it pretty quickly. those girls are smokin’.
The Virginia Beach police are fools and this sort of silliness reflects poorly on them and the city's resident who condone such prudish pettiness.
There's nothing obscene about this photo; Abercrombie typically shows "edgy" type pictures in their stores and in their catalogs.
The models are all 18+.
This is why folks laugh at places like Virginia Beach.
Abercrombie amp; Fitch Co - Company History
The New York store remained, of course, the company's flagship. At the close of the 1950s the main floor sported heads of buffalo, caribou, moose, elk, and other big game, stuffed fish of spectacular size, and elephant's-foot wastebaskets. [...] The basement was given over to the shooting range, while the mezzanine contained paraphernalia for skindiving, archery, skiing, and lawn games. [...] On the seventh floor, the gun room, besides more stuffed game heads, held about 700 shotguns and rifles, constituting the most lavish assemblage of sporting firearms on earth.
“Are their ads pushing the lines of taste? Yes. Obscene? It’s in the eye of the beholder...there are places where Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition is obscene.”
I didn’t see these posters in the A&F store at the Tehran mall...
Actually there is no definition of "obscene" that has been held constitutional. Justice Potter Stewart famously said of hardcore pornography only, "I know it when I see it!"
This is why the definition is left up to community standards. What's acceptable in a large cosmopolitan city or a beach-town is just not acceptable in other places.
Bare chested men with buttocks visible could well be seen as obscene by certain communities.
The store manager was stupid not to pull down the mural when asked nicely.
I've always wondered how it is that stores like this, especially with the huge female images in tiny lingerie, were acceptable in a family-friendly mall.
Someone was placed under arrest for this?
Lock the doors. Ban them from the Mall.
Here is the business side of this. The Mgr. shows up in count, pays the $2000 fine, does a few community service hours (do you really think he's going to jail for a year?)
Next, A&C get millions of dollars in free advertising targeting the demographics they want, the kids who see this as "rebellious" all for $2000.
PS - The store Manager gets moved to the top of a short promotion list and is rewarded.
On a side note, Abercrombie and Fitch clothing is the white version of $150 sneakers for black kids. The only difference is that the $150 sneakers really are superior basketball shoes.
To take it a step further, this is why America is laughing at - and rejecting - the Republican Party.
There are issues for the police and issues for the public. If the public shops at A&F enough that they find such ads profitable, it is a public issue not a police issue.
And for that matter the SCOTUS said as much. It is hard to argue something is at odds with community standards if the community is shopping there based on these ads.
Again, the legal definition of obscenity is left up to “community standards.” If a jury-or-judge thinks this image is obscene in ultra-conservative-home-of-the-700-Club Virginia Beach community, than legally, by their community standards, it is.
Ah, a mall cop. Much like I thought.
Seems a lot more petty, after actually seeing it.
???...great streeetch
Lock 'em up!
Agree or disagree?
Is it a criminal or a civil infraction?
Bernstein said the summons for a Class One misdemeanor was issued to the manager because there is no legal way to issue a summons to a corporate entity in such circumstances. The manager was not arrested but faces a fine of up to $2,000 and as much as a year in jail, if convicted.
The owner of the store should be the one to face the citation.
Good Lord, Andy! I think I just saw it!
Now I want you to rewind and when I give the word hit the pause button!
Two possibilities:
1) The thumping dance music was so loud they couldn't hear a thing.
2) The 'managers' (snort) are typical retails jobsworths who fear corporate more than they fear the law.
What the heck is wrong with my country?
They are arresting people for putting up a poster like this on private property?
The only disgusting thing is that some innocent person was arrested for this.
Unbelievable.
The State rushes to oppress.
Why can the police state easily remove a poster some busybody doesn't like, while they can't get the crack dealers off a corner?
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