A-style: harmless nipple-slip or unfair tactics

Max wrote, “while I certainly share your concerns about the sexualisation of children, this A-Style ad doesn't bother me at all in that regard, partly because it is unlikely to have any subliminal effect on kids who don't already understand the concept and even with older kids who do, it is still unlikely to have significant subliminal impact.

“Although for older kids (and adults) who do understand, it will benefit from conscious titillation, attention, word of mouth factor (as did FCUK). But that is a conscious effect not a subliminal one.

“To me this is visual innuendo. Much innuendo in Sesame Street that was very funny to adults would miss kids entirely and I don't think this is much different to that. I think it would miss kids completely unless they had already learned the concept of a) sex and b) sex done doggy fashion.

“The other reason I am not so concerned about it, is that the execution is symbolic rather than graphic. By analogy, cartoon violence does not have the same psychological impact on kids as violence depicted realistically in drama.”

So where does the line get drawn on what’s acceptable corporate behavior solely in the quest for profit?

If primetime television promotional efforts can display a copulating couple, what’s not acceptable. The prospect of outdoor advertising visually overwhelming the landscape has seen some interesting local responses already. Sao Paulo in Brazil banned outdoor advertising altogether and cities would unquestionably be more beautiful without it.

But if outdoor display persists in playing a role in what our cities will look like, is there room for the A-style logo. The prospect of overwhelmingly in-yer-face public advertising of the future (as portrayed in movies such as Bladerunner) is not a pleasant thought – imagine if the skyline of a city could be dominated by commercial brands taking a free ride on the sexuality theme (there is unquestionably a special pathway in the brain for reproduction-related matters). Is that okay?

A-style and its corporate stablemate brand AM Glory (another irreverent brand built with veiled reference to that part of the male anatomy which wakes up earlier than he does) are creating promotional currency by challenging what is publicly acceptable.

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