Complaints from angry customers have forced retailer General Pants to censor its ‘sex’ campaign for fashion label Ksubi, which features teenage staff wearing ‘I love sex’ badges.

Young shop assistants told The Sunday Telegraph they were uneasy about the raunchy push for the Sydney-based denim designers and felt uncomfortable wearing the badges.

One female employee said the badges were inappropriate. However, she had to wear them at the instruction of management. "It's pretty degrading as a woman but there is nothing we can do," she said.

Another employee said she felt "uncomfortable" wearing the badge because she found it "embarrassing' and "demeaning".
"I don't think we should be encouraged to wear them," she said. "It's sending out the wrong message to our customers, who are generally young teenagers," she said.

The campaign also features posters of a semi-naked woman with gaffer tape on her breasts, a man unzipping her jeans and topless mannequins wearing only jeans.

General Pants have been forced to censor part of the campaign following complaints from shoppers and parents, covering the posters with a black ‘censored’ strip and dressing the mannequins with tops.

But the posters with the word ‘sex’ and the ‘I love sex’ badges are to remain as part of the promotion until it ends on 16 May.
General Pants CEO Craig King said the campaign will remain in stores despite the complaints.

"Such an image isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, obviously," he said. "The concerns came from parents and we responded by covering up the contentious area."

He said it was a "bit of a stretch" to suggest that the campaign might encourage teenagers to have sex.

Ksubi's communications manager, Gina Nixon, said the campaign had been carefully thought through before it was launched.
"There will always be an element of cheek and humor in Ksubi's work, always executed tastefully," she said.

"The campaign is fun and modern with all models featured in the campaign excited to be a part of this project.

"Ksubi supports General Pants and the use of calendar girls as window installations."