Clear Channel gets FCUKed in Florida

Dateline: Florida.

Clear Channel Outdoor runs a board for French Connection UK – part of a campaign that has been running elsewhere in the world for some time. In fact, FCUK is the label on French Connection stores and every piece of French Connection clothing.

Not surprisingly, it’s causing a heap of trouble for Clear Channel. And what could be more viscerally impactful than the Clear Channel logo pasted under a provocative board that seems to suggest – shock! – a cuss word.

From the Florida news:

”The alphabet is an amazing thing,” added Jack Thompson, a Coral Gables attorney who often engages in battle against what he views as pornographic. “This does not speak well of society. `For Clear Channel, which is portraying itself as the good guys, the Carrie Nation of the decency movement, to be doing this is just hypocritical. They’re out of their minds.”

But let me ask something: Does Clear Channel really want to be the “Carrie Nation of the decency movement?” Is this not well past their intention? To be labeled so makes them appear not traditionalists, but reactionaries and loons.

Is it too late to back out of “zero tolerance”?