Parenting: You only get one chance to do it right (Teen People magazine advertisement)

My family recently returned from one of our legendary Hagelin road trips: Two adults, six children (three of them friends), a dog, a van and 20 hours of highway. Both ways.

We get a lot of camaraderie out of such trips. We rinse off a lot of sand. We go through a lot of suntan lotion. And we eat a lot of food you won't find on the surgeon general's recommended list anytime soon. Sometimes, we nearly kill each other – but, all in all, these family trips are loads of fun and are filled with the stuff great memories are made of.

On this most recent trip, we stopped in a chain burger joint – one of the biggies – and were eating when I noticed a made-for-television movie playing on a mounted television in the corner. As I watched, the characters began removing their clothes and, in very short order, were into some pretty heavy romping.

Less than a week later, my good friend, David Spady with Salem Communications told me about an astoundingly sexual fragrance ad in Teen People magazine. Not wanting to believe what he said, I headed to the grocery store to check out the magazine myself. There it was, in living color on the check-out stand. I picked up the magazine and it flipped open to the ad in question. It featured a young, shirtless teen boy snuggled up next to a teen girl clad only in her underwear.

The two were posed cozy and playful on a bed, with the caption, "Scent to bed." The name of the fragrance? "Fcuk you." I kid you not. The letters were not-so-cleverly rearranged, and their meaning is obvious. On the back of the page are two fragrant strips – one says, "open here to try fcuk her" and the other, "open here to try fcuk him." A quick scan of the articles in the magazine proved to be a parent's worst nightmare. Almost everything is linked to sex. It broke my heart when I turned to the letters from readers page and saw that girls as young as 12 and 13 are regular readers of the magazine.

I found this on the web:

Posted on Sat, Sep. 13, 2003

Kaufmann's pulls racy fragrance ads
50 stores in four states respond as customers turn up noses at displays
By Erika D. Smith
Beacon Journal staff writer

Kaufmann's shied away from temptation Friday and pulled down sexy signs and displays promoting a fragrance called FCUK, a spokeswoman said.

The department store chain also will stop mailing racy advertising circulars that feature the scent, but Kaufmann's stores will keep selling it, said Robin Reibel, a spokeswoman for the Boston-based retailer.

The change affects all 50 Kaufmann's locations across Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

``We are sensitive to our customers' comments,'' Reibel said.

The news was welcome to the consumers, who raised a big stink over FCUK, which stands for French Connection United Kingdom.

Kaufmann's said it received numerous calls complaining about the signs, displays and advertising inserts. The complaints intensified after Akron Beacon Journal business reporter Mary Ethridge discussed the fragrance in her Mad Shopper column Friday.

Karyn Halpern of Akron said she's thrilled the department-store chain has decided to stop advertising the perfume.

``I got the flier in the mail, and I thought, `Where are their brains?' '' she said from her Akron home.

``I think they have to be responsible for what they put on display and what they sent out to people's homes,'' Halpern added.

The signs -- which stood about 8 feet tall -- featured a photo of a man and woman in bed with the FCUK name superimposed. French Connection United Kingdom is a British clothing retailer that markets the products.

The name has been a source of controversy since the company began using its initials in advertising campaigns about four years ago. The signs were banned this year from taxis in New York City.

Brian Keel of Green said he was shocked to get the circular in the mail earlier this week.

``I've got children at home,'' he said. ``It's not the kind of thing you expect to see lying on the kitchen table.''

The father of three said he got the ad out of the house before his children, ages 12, 4 and 2, saw it.

``If they want to sell it, that's fine. But those big signs aren't necessary,'' Keel said.

Eva Buhite of Wadsworth said just selling it is going too far.

The grandmother said she canceled a subscription to a teen magazine that runs FCUK ads. Next on her list is a boycott of Kaufmann's for selling the perfume.

``They really hurt themselves big time by doing this,'' she said. ``If my granddaughters go in there and I see it, I'd probably stand there and bust every bottle.''

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/business/6761576.htm

Erika D. Smith can be reached at 330-996-3748 or at ersmith@thebeaconjournal.com. Beacon Journal business writer Mary Ethridge contributed to this report.

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