A&F's 'Naughty' New Quarterly

Here's the cover of the new "adult" Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly which is being released across the pond and at Barack Obama rallies only. If the cover is any indication, the catalog features male photos from behind (so I'm not sure how it's much different from the old ones) and the women (as well as anyone non-white) seem to have been vanquished from this land of Adam & Steve. It's rumored to cost $200 bucks.

It appears someone made a Bruce Weber collage and then got busy with the Photoshop "colored pencil" effect.

Full cover (possibly NSFW) AFTER THE JUMP...

Previously
Obama's Abercrombie Boys: Case Closed [tr]

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Obama's Abercrombie Boys: Case Closed

Questions regarding the origin of the Obama Abercrombie boys have been answered:

"The so-called Abercrombie boys who showed up behind Senator Barack Obama during his speech Tuesday night in Evansville, Ind., were just random Obama fans...Because they were all wearing T-shirts from Abercrombie & Fitch, they stood out in the crowd, even receiving cell-phone calls from friends who had spotted them on television during the speech. Soon the media mentioned them, wondering whether they were part of an advertising campaign, a shrewd bit of product placement by the retailer, which is geared toward the same young crowd attracted to Mr. Obama’s candidacy. Not so. The young men saw a report on CNN and called the network to say they had not planned anything. One of them works at the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Evansville. He and one of his brothers and a friend decided to go to the rally; they wear A&F clothes all the time and didn’t think twice about the T-shirts. At the rally, a campaign volunteer asked them to stand behind Mr. Obama during his speech. It was not clear what role the T-shirts played, if any, in their selection. Spokesmen for the Obama campaign and A&F said there was no plan to highlight A&F, and both were caught by surprise when the T-shirts drew such attention. Virtually all campaigns strategically select the audiences who appear behind their candidate so as to send a message to television viewers."

As I noted yesterday, folks are already selling Obamacrombie T-shirts.

Said Tom Lennox, VP-corporate communications for A&F: "We appreciate the exposure, but can not take credit for it. So, thanks to the Obama campaign for this great product placement. We wish we had thought of it. If Hillary is interested, we have stores all over North Carolina, Indiana and Oregon."

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Racy Images from Abercrombie and Equinox Gym Rile Conservatives

UPDATE: Virginia Beach police DROP obscenity charges...

Police seized two murals from an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Virginia Beach over the weekend, citing local obscenity laws. One is the image above. The other is of a woman with her hand over her breast.

Hampton Roads reports: "Adam Bernstein, a police spokesman, said the seizure and the issuance of the summons came only after store management had not heeded warnings to remove the images. The citation was issued under City Code Section 22.31, Bernstein said, which makes it a crime to display 'obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles.'...The manager was not arrested but faces a fine of up to $2,000 and as much as a year in jail, if convicted. Bernstein said that in a meeting last week with store management, the officer - who is assigned to routine patrol of the mall - said he understood it was a corporate decision as to what would be displayed in the stores. But he explained that that didn't exempt the local store from complying with the city code. Bernstein said management was told specifically: 'We want those advertising signs taken down.'"

Meanwhile, some Catholic groups are up in arms about the latest Equinox Fitness Club ads that depict a group of nuns drawing a well-built nude male as if in a life drawing class.

WCVB Boston reports: "C.J. Doyle of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts said the ad shows contempt for the Catholic religion. 'It says a great deal about this perverse obsession in both the fashion industry and the advertising industry of exploiting and mocking and sexualizing Catholic religious imagery,' Doyle said. The fitness company responded with a written statement saying, 'Our ad campaigns are based on personal motivation and fantasy and throughout history the body has been considered a form of art.'"

Catholic League go-it-aloner Bill Donohue, of course, was aroused roused by the ad as well. He said: "...this patently stupid ad that Equinox is floating suggests that it must hype its edgy image in order to compete. That’s too bad—apparently their targeted demographic group isn’t lured by the prospect of more barbells and fruit bars. Hence, the need to rip off Catholic imagery in a sophomoric soft-porn ad. Of course, Equinox could have asked Fallon to replace the nuns with Islamic women covered with veils. But that was probably too edgy, even for these trendy types. Guess there are some envelopes that no one wants to push these days. How telling."

Donohue should just settle down. The photo could have been captioned: "Suck it Jesus, this man is my God now."

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Abercrombie Nixes Shirtless Men. (Plus: Eco Stag Party?)

In an effort to keep y'all entertained, we'll check in with some blog friends and get some links up through the day. Rest assured Andy will be back next week. (And yes, he misses you too.) Our regular tech column by Jon Barrett will be up later today of course. So you do have reason to go on.

Our friend Kenneth (in the 212) is featuring photos from from the Anderson Cooper, Jeff Corwin, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta launch party for CNN's new enviro-series. He found Lance Armstrong, Matthew McConaughey, and strangely...no women.

HunkduJour directed us to the latest from performance art group Improv Everywhere. Where else would you go shopping with a few hundred shirtless buddies after playing football in Central Park? (Plus Ugly Betty shirtless geek hotness.)

 

You may have missed...

Improv Everywhere: Best Buy Ambush [tr]

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Big Brother 8's Nick Starcevic Plays the Gay Angle

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

This year's Big Brother has already got me hooked. Last week a fresh crop of new talent debuted in this year's version of the summer reality show and while there are two out gay men (former boyfriends who now hate each other) positioned as rivals in the house, there's a hunky wild card that folks have their eye on, particularly those who have subscribed to the show's live 24-hour internet feed.

Nick Starcevic, a former college and pro football player, fitness model, and Abercrombie & Fitch store manager, has not only made the hot tub admission that he has performed oral sex on a guy, he's been caught on the cameras spooning Joe, one half of the gay former couple. While contestants in the past have been known to work the gay angle to curry favor, the strategies here have gotten off to a fast and furious start.

Nick's oral sex admission...

And Joe's little piece of heaven.

UPDATE: There are now whispers around the blogosphere that Nick may have appeared in an adult film from Next Door Male, or at least has a double. WARNING: Very NSFW shots  here.

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News: Roseanne Barr, Condoms, Solomon Islands, Ptown

West Village condom shop Condomania shuts after 16 years.

One of our favorite Provincetown haunts, the Atlantic House, was shut down this weekend after a little bit of a raw sewage spill. Let's hope they get it cleaned up before the season starts.

Patricia Todd, Alabama's first openly gay legislator, says she's more than a one-issue lawmaker: "I like to say I'm a representative that happens to be gay. I'm not the gay representative."

An undercover spy reports from inside the new Abercrombie & Fitch London store: "The interview room at the Abercrombie & Fitch headquarters was packed. The woman interrogator asked which three words I'd use to describe myself. I repeated what the girl before me had said 'I'm approachable and friendly'. My interviewer smiled and wrote this down. She informed us that the company had a 'tagline' which we would have to use when greeting customers. She explained, very seriously, that it was, 'Hello, how are you?' 'How did you come up with that?' I asked. She said a company of marketing consultants had worked intensively at developing it. They wanted to audition me to see if I could deliver the line - this was make or break. 'Hello, how are you?!' I said clearly. 'Very good' she reassured me."

The recent major earthquakes have sent the Solomon Islands three meters out of the sea: "Corals that used to form an underwater wonderland of iridescent blues, greens and reds now bleach under the sun, transforming into a barren moonscape surrounding the island."

Roseanne Barr says gays and Evangelicals operate from the same place: "Never once in my 54 years have I ever once heard a gay or lesbian person who’s politically active say one thing about anything that was not about them. They don’t care about minimum wage, they don’t care about any other group other than their own self because you know, some people say being gay and lesbian is a totally narcissistic thing and sometimes I wonder. I’ve never heard any of them say anything except for 'accept me ‘cause I’m gay.' It’s just, it’s screwed. It’s no different than the evangelicals, it’s the same mindset. They want you to accept Jesus and you guys want us to all believe it’s ok to be gay. And a lot of us, a lot of them, I do, I don’t give a damn who anybody has sex with, as long as they’re not underage and an animal. I don’t give a damn, it’s none of my damn business. I’m just sick of all the divisiveness, it’s not getting any of us anywhere."

Futureworld: UK Ministry of Defence issues grim prediction.

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