Sex sells. We all know that. For decades now, sexual images, or even the mere suggestion of sex, have been powerful marketing tools for advertisers. However, one American town asserts that sex will not sell.

According to a recent article on msnbc.com, in Virginia Beach, Va., “Police confiscated two display photos of scantily-clad men and a woman from a national chain clothing store and cited the store’s manager on a misdemeanor obscenity charge, authorities said. One photograph showed three shirtless young men, with one man’s upper buttocks showing. The other image was of a woman whose breast was mostly exposed,” the report continued.

“The police issued the summons Saturday after management did not heed warnings to remove the images from the Lynnhaven Mall store after some customers complained,”police spokesman Adam Bernstein said.

Who was the offending clothing chain?

Why, it was Abercrombie and Fitch, of course.

Since its inception, Abercrombie and Fitch has always pressed the limits of tolerable sexual suggestion and innuendo in its marketing campaigns. Photos of scantily-clad models are prominently displayed throughout each store. While some people may be disgusted by these marketing tactics, the chain has always been upfront about their button-pushing campaigns.

According to the same article, “In 2003, the company halted publication of its seven-year-old A&F Quarterly catalog because of complaints about sexually suggestive photographs.”

For the most part, however, these campaigns have been accepted by the American public, as evidenced by the fact that millions of people continue to shop at the national chain. Since this is the case, is it possible that some Americans, namely individuals in Virginia Beach, are just too prude for modern advertising campaigns?

For decades now, the issue of sex has permeated American culture. Every time sex becomes part of the national mindset and vernacular, there is always uproar. Does anybody remember when Britney Spears posed on the cover of Rolling Stone in nothing more than her underwear? The national mindset became increasingly conservative and numerous individuals voiced their concern about the magazine’s supposed lack of taste and decency.

And anytime sex becomes too mainstream for the American public, someone always has to assert that sex is akin to obscenity. The manager of the Virginia Beach store faces up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted on obscenity charges. According to the city code and police spokesman Adam Bernstein, it is illegal to display “obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles.”

The Supreme Court adopted a test in the mid-1970s that is used to define obscene materials. Among other things, the so-called Miller Test asserts that material is obscene when the “work, taken as whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

Clearly, the photos are artistic as they are part of Abercrombie’s stalwart ad-campaign. It is unlikely that obscenity charges could really stand the test of legality in this case. However, if the manager were to lose, the same obscenity standard could be applied to other Abercrombie stores, something that would be damaging to the American freedom of expression and antithetical to the freedom of speech.

Often, Americans should be wary of situations such as this. Clearly, the same photos exist in numerous other Abercrombie stores throughout the nation.

It is painfully obvious that citizens in Virginia Beach (as well as the police) need to get a grip on reality and accept the commonality of sex-based advertisements. Sex has always been a powerful marketing tool and will undoubtedly continue to sell.

[Reach columnist Chris Heide at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.]