Seen on the Corner of Allen and Houston

I know the 'Dance' ad you guys are referring to. that was bulls--t and we shouldn'ta have had to deal with that.

what bothers me about this whole hideous campaign is that it's diagonally across the street from a playground.

not cool.

i've hated these for years now, the worst offender was one with a finger sticking into a girls mouth as if she was performing felatio.

i guess i'm just wondering why this tame by comparrison ad was the one that broke the camel's back for you jake.

feel free to deface them, i've got your back!

any hetero male who finds this offensive should lose his virginity. who cares who the marketing is for (AA was stale long ago))--not-fat broads with their legs spread will always be okay with me, period. they don't make me any more likely to buy a product, but they make me more likely to be in a good mood. because i like to look at broads with their legs spread, nothing more, nothing less.

Looks good to me ! I don't find it to be skanky, Oh, yeah right I'm A GUY, I'M NOT SUPPOSE TO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH A PRETTY WOMAN STRETCHING OUT ON A BILLBOARD SHOWING ME SOMETHING THAT I'VE BEEN PARTLY CONSUMED WITH MY WHOLE LIFE !!!!!!

Anybody who is offended by this is a prude, probably a man-hating shrew.

I'm just offended by that this played-out AA ad campaign is still working. It's like a dumb caricature of a NY hipster aesthetic. Take some retro-ish gym clothing, a little bit o' crotch and some pseudo Terry Richardson lighting and voila! Consumers can't buy enough of our overpriced generica. I thought NYers were too smart to buy into mainstream marketing fantasies about NY.

The ad is for stockings, thigh high socks, actually, I don't care if they just put the girls legs there, there is a topless jean ad on Houston near the Angelika that basically exposes the model's boobs way more than any skin shown here. Basically I agree that the clothes they sell are generally ugly, but just look at how much commotion that Dov Charney has created with one billboard. The man is trying to mass produce, any pretense other than that as stated above is a misinterpretation of AA's attempt to tap in to the LES hipster mystique. The ad will get changed as it always does. We're New Yorkers, aren't we a little beyond being offended by something which isn't offensive, harmful or cruel?

It's not SKANKY enough!

well, the DANCE ad they had up over the summer was SERIOUSLY worse. a girl's crotch was up close and personal in the foreground. it was disgusting, and seriously should have been defaced (a pink line placed appropriately at crotch level?). i hate this damned company.

I'm not sure which is worse, people thinking this ad is too slutty (in the LES? Come on), or that the chick in the ad is too fat (fat?? Seriously now!).

i think it's an extremely unattractive ad stephen, but if your community hates it so much, you can buy the ad space and post a pretty picture. seriously, that's how the country works. you don't own the public space.

if everyone agreed with you, aa couldn't afford the ad space because they would boycott their products. as it stands, people love aa and give them their money, thus granting them a slice of 'public space'.

The girl in the ad could stand to lose a few pounds.

Ok. I am so happy that someone has finally posted something regarding this HIDEOUS ad. I drive by it on the way to the bridge all the time and i become sick to my stomach every time I pass it. Not to mention the ads from before (that borat lookalike in the pink satin shorts with his hairy balls busting out, slutty hipster bubblegum girl with ass cheeks visible and catholic girl kneesocks). After a long day, the last thing that i want SHOVED in my face is a 40-ft high crotch or a dumb ugly hipster staring me down. I can't wait until someone has a serious car accident and sues american apparel.

what about the topless chick for ck at bway-lafayette? it is a topless chick, right?

Read the new issue of SATYA (satyamag dot com) and make up your mind

Read the new issue of SATYA (satyamag dot com) and make up your mind

i think not, but we actually spent a few years developing a website that allows users to rate ads (like this one) on the basis of aesthetics and ethics.

the american apparel campaign seems to do pretty well, check it:

afterthesemessages.com

-E

All AA ads remind me of is hair, sweat, and body odor. It makes me want to shower every time I see one.

notice the williamsburg bridge sign... an all to obvious visual metaphor..

I think it's provocative but within reason. She is supposed to be a dancer I think. So this is an interesting stretch.

i miss the american apparel ad with the bubble gum girl from last year. bring her back...

Every time I see a new AA ad I think "okay, this time they've gone too far," but then a week later I see a new, even smuttier ad. At this point, I'm all shocked out. Keep raising that bar AA.

I don't find this "too slutty" at all, especially for the Lower East Side. As someone already pointed out, she looks like a dancer, stretching. Your definitions of "beaver shot" are obviously far looser than mine--do you have similar comments when you go to the ballet?

If you're worried about policing community standards, have you seen the Calvin Klein billboards over on Houston/Lafayette in the last few years? Those are much dirtier (and I like them just fine, by the way).

I would like to see the hairy Spanish dude. Unfortunately, the male models in these lame ads don't have to pose half as provocatively as the women do, and that's where I take issue...

nope.

Doesn't bother me, though AA's clothes are hideous.

I'd prefer a giant ad for Lane Bryant.

That's been there for a long time. Most of us who live in the neighborhood just ignore it now...

They started out really good, cute young girls in innocent looking poses. Very girl next door-esque. Now they're just weird! Especially the hairy spanish dude, that was Disgusting! I own Oliva restaurant on the opposite corner and am forced to look at them everyday. Bring back the nice, cute girls!

someone run up and draw a deeper cameltoe.

Seriously, when I get off the F train at 1st and 1st with the GF, I blush and look askance. Thankfully, she hasn't noticed it yet.

this is just an ugly ad. i don't find it sexy at all. the girl isn't very attractive. the clothes is ho hum. it's distracting, visual garbage. the colors are pukey too.

AA's attempt at being edgy/provocative with these ads is just so predictable and unimaginative. I wouldn't be caught dead in their merch. Their campaigns are simply annoying and as widespread as the Gap...really quite the opposite of any notion of urban cool they're trying to attain.

what about the naked older ladies in Times Square?

I was standing at that intersection waiting for the light to change and thinking the same thing, when the girl standing next to me turned to her friend and said, "God, I would love to model for American Apparel."

this has been up for months. i live across the street and see this every day. their ads are usually of an ass and/or crotch. it's nicer in the warmer weather since the trees block our view, but in the winter, this is what we get from the kitchen window (click on my url for this very view). at street level, one or two doors south, there is another newer AA ad of a guy doing a similar breakdancy thing, but he's wearing more clothes. i wonder what they're going for?

Screw AA. They just wiped out that cool Army-Navy store on Fifth in Chelsea. We need this?

But the billboard can stay.

All of American Apparel's ads have that "snapshot" look, like someone was just taking casual pix of their girlfriends lounging in tiny underwear. Kind of like the Calvin Klein ads from way back. Lots of nipples and asscrack. That's their ad style.

well, she's hideous and full of beaver. NO FAT CHICKS

I pass this billboard everyday. This is not the first American Apparel ad of questionable taste to have appeared at this site. The company uses it's workers for the ads and are obviously art directed with a lecherous eye. They seem to prefer young women in immodest poses, but have also had much too intimate photos of young men as well. We are the ones being exploited by the ads. The public, we local people, are having the quality of our lives diminished by this company's ads. They are abusive. It is our public space. We should be able to commission a real public artist, like Judith Supine to redo it.

She looks like she's doing a pre-dance warm up. How is that slutty?

She is wearing a leotard and leg warmers, and stretching, as a dancer would do. They are just promoting their "dance" line. You can see worse ads on the back of the Voice each week.

Jake, you need to get your mind out of the gutter.

(But I know you like to post things like this just to get a rise out of people.)

I think this one definitely skirts that line between good and bad taste (no pun intended). Yes, I'm not a fan of this sort of advertising but I'm also not interested in prudish arguements that only focus on the position instead of the broader issue of the portrayal of women in all of fashion.

On a humorous note, I couldn't help but think of something Amy Sedaris said as Jerri Blank in Strangers with Candy, "Nice camel-toe."

I think this one definitely skirts that line between good and bad taste (no pun intended). Yes, I'm not a fan of this sort of advertising but I'm also not interested in prudish arguements that only focus on the position instead of the broader issue of the portrayal of women in all of fashion.

On a humorous note, I couldn't help but think of something Amy Sedaris said as Jerri Blank in Strangers with Candy, "Nice camel-toe."

too sllutty? no.

does anyone think that the general american public are f*ckin prudes who glorify violence in nearly everything, except geico commercials?

Yes, it's too slutty. But beyond that, it's just stupid.

um, she's wearing a leotard. where exactly is the beaver showing?

i have never even looked in one of their stores because i find their advertising so annoying (and ubiquitous).

American Apparel needs to pack up and go home to LA. New York is losing all of its unique institutions to these nationwide businesses.

I'm probably asking for it, but...

How exactly is this exploiting women? How is anyone being coerced They have so many people banging down the door to model for them that they set up a section on their website for customer-submitted photos.

YES! It's terrible. A few months ago there was another American Apparel beavershot ad that said "Dance" and had a chick upside down on her back with legs spit open!

WTF?

sooooo hott

a porn related post from jake.

I'm numb from the shock.

let's ask andy rooney

I hate this advertisement! I hate seeing it.

How can American Apparel call themselves a company with a conscience when they exploit women in their marketing?

Don't shop there!

She seems a bit covered w/ the leg warmers, Real Estate prices across the street might heat up w/ some more skin!

Can we check the police blotter to see if any accidents have been caused by rubber necking to this chick?

It's much better than the Mexican-looking guy in his underwear that was up there months ago.

No.