Sex sells. Or, at the very least, annoys.

According to a Feb. 4 article from the Associated Press, city officials said they plan on dropping a misdemeanor obscenity charge against the manager of an Abercrombie & Fitch store in Virginia Beach, Va. The charge came after customers in the Lynnhaven Mall complained about advertisements on display at the store of three shirtless young men, including one with a man’s upper buttocks showing, and a woman with a partially exposed breast, according to the article. The complaints caused authorities to confiscate the offending displays and charge the manager.

Though authorities at the mall may have overreacted when they removed the advertisements, this type of reaction should not come as a surprise to the Abercrombie & Fitch store. Having risqué pictures of models in your store for everyone to see is bound to get a negative reaction from someone, especially in a crowded mall.

An advertisement featuring this level of nudity on TV is one thing, as anyone who wishes not to see it could simply change the channel or turn off the TV. But putting up these pictures at a mall, where parents are probably taking their children to stores other than Abercrombie & Fitch, makes such avoidance more difficult. Parents should not have to explain where the woman in the store’s shirt went or why the man in the picture’s pants don’t fit. Having these displays in such a public place makes it harder on people who don’t want to see nudity or explain it to their children.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. cannot truly be as indignant about the mall authorities’ reaction as it claims to be in the article. Though authorities overreacted this time, the company should temper their desire to push the envelope with their advertising as they could reach a point where they actually are in violation of obscenity laws.