In the past 1997-1998 season we’ve been receiving an inordinate amount of letters … not concerning the sport, but about the Reef Brazil ads. You know those ads – they are the ones at the front of our magazine that feature a tastefully clad young woman usually standing on a beach. Sometimes (ok, always) her back is toward the camera, and she is wearing a bikini. Sounds pretty harmless, right? What’s to complain about, you may ask? Well, all of these letters are from mothers who claim the ads are offensive because they show too much skin. These moms don’t want their sons’ virginal eyes to see such smut.
Moms, I have news for you. It’s just a butt. That’s right, two cheeks and a line, and you never even see the line part. So what’s the big deal??? Seriously, I want to know. What exactly is offensive about a woman’s butt covered up with a swimsuit?
To find something like a photo of a girl in a bikini threatening seems somewhat ridiculous. In other civilized countries, the Reef Brazil ads wouldn’t gain a second look. The magazines in Europe – even ones read by kids in their formative years – have a much more liberal view on these matters. Sometimes you can even spot a partial breast on their pages! Imagine the damage that could cause! Heaven forbid any of these protected sons ever find their young eyes on a beach somewhere outside of the USA. Sometimes women there go topless!!!
Moms, I doubt that any of our readers, not even your son, is taking his issue of Wake Boarding into the bathroom “to get a better look” at the Reef Brazil ad. If he wants to do that, he’ll get a Penthouse or Playboy, or even your Victoria’s Secret catalogue. Nor do I think your son is getting any “improper” ideas from seeing the ad. If he’s getting those ideas, he’s getting them elsewhere. Don’t blame us, and don’t blame Reef Brazil. Funny how no dads write in and complain. Is it because they are “perverts” just like their sons? Could it be that they don’t care if their sons become corrupted? I doubt it. The reason no dads write in is because they too were once young and they know how harmless those pictures in the ads really are.
But I’m open-minded. I’m willing to listen. Maybe seeing a girl’s butt in a bikini is going to ruin today’s youth. Maybe it will turn your son into some perverted miscreant who doesn’t succeed in life because his only thought is that of the Reef girl in a bikini. I wouldn’t want our magazine to do that. So moms, this is your chance to make me understand. I assume from how prolific you are it should be easy to elaborate on the offensiveness of a butt. If someone can write something that makes sense, we’ll forward it off the Reef people and ask them to put their girls in a wetsuit or something.
Otherwise, get off our asses – literally.
