Live Unbuttoned?

So I'm slow catching up with trends. Sorry. I leave Sax Fifth off my list of favorite sites on purpose. But when I hit the streets of my favorite Middle Eastern town I was hit in the face by Levi's ads. This is a place where the west already stinks of immorality and the young people are running to conservative Islam as a way to protest western imperialism. But every other bus stop has full size ads of the 'Live Unbuttoned' ads. The guy has the ghastly skull tatoo on the arm he's using to unbutton a girls jeans.

In a press release, John Anderson, president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., touts these provocative ads as necessary to “stepping up and being a global leader.” The release goes on to describe the campaign’s theme of “unrestrained self-expression,” pointing out that the characters’ “physical unbuttoning of their jeans…captures the provoking theme of self-expression and unrestrained behavior.” What he is not saying is that his competition is Abercombie & Fitch and money is more important than anything else.

Tragically, Levi's and Abercombie have successfully reached their target market, and wooed a generation of Tweens to a 'free sex'  lifestyle. Even more tragically, they have cemented in the eastern mind that Islam must defend itself against the infidels of the west. Thus, not only have they earned a millstone around their necks for leading children to sin, they can take credit for jihad and the persecution of Christians as well.

But before we walk away letting them carry all the blame, let's ask ourselves if we've had a TV on long enough to see the Levi ads ... or anything equally provocative. Let's consider ... have we written to the owners of our local malls asking them to pull Abercombie and Levi out of our communities? Have we worked on petitions to change this? Have we done anything about the magazines at the local grocery check out line? Have we talked with our kids about this? Have we gotten them involved? If not we stand co-responsible.

"The world is a dangerous place. Not because of the people who are evil; but because of the people who don't do anything about it." Albert Einstein