annals of taboo in commerce

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

just came across a line of underwear called Dirty Fukker; see
   http://www.dirtyfukkerunderwear.com/

the homepage says:

Ok, so you've searched the internet for some decent underwear that
looks and feels good. Well now you've found it. Dirty Fukker
underwear has a snug athletic fit, uniquely styled to fit front and
back. And it comes with a handy little condom pocket too. When you
look this good in your underwear, they'll know you're a Dirty Fukker.

Dirty Fukker underwear... we think this says it all...

.....

they also sell hats.  well, one hat in two colors -- a brimless cap
with DF on it.

so DF joins the british firm French Connection, which has been
branding its clothes "fcuk" since 1997.  see the wikipedia page:

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Connection_(clothing)
Though they insisted it was an acronym for French Connection United
Kingdom, its similarity to the word "fuck" caused controversy.[1]
French Connection fully exploited this and produced an extremely
popular range of t-shirts with messages such as "fcuk this", "hot as
fcuk", "mile high fcuk", "lucky fcuk", "Fun Comes Usually Kneeling",
"fcuk on the beach", etc. There were also a number of regionally
specific messages, such as "fcuk in hull" (bearing similarity to
"fucking hell") and "no fcukin worries" (in Australia) and "fcuk
off". Apparently they first discovered the acronym when a fax was
sent from their Hong Kong store FCHK to FCUK.

In 2001, during the introduction of French Connection in San
Francisco, big banners hung on the front of the newly opened store
saying "San Francisco's first fcuk."

[and on legal matters,: trademark protection and public indecency
controversy:]

... French Connection launched a trademark infringement case
challenging "First Consultant UK," a computer company, over its use
of the fcuk acronym, but the judge in the case refused to grant an
injunction, describing French Connection's use of it as "a tasteless
and obnoxious campaign."[3]

The company also threatened legal action against the right-wing
political youth organisation Conservative Future, which had briefly
adopted the spoof abbrevation "cfuk" (short for "Conservative Future
UK").[4]

Another judge reportedly expelled a potential juror from his
courtroom for wearing one of the fcuk range of T-shirts, saying that
the "mis-spelt Anglo Saxon word" was a distraction and did not
dignify the court proceedings.[5]

Following years of complaints, the UK's Advertising Standards
Authority banned a number of advertisements and ordered the company
to submit all posters for approval before running them.[1]

In the United States, mayor of Boston, Massachusetts Thomas Menino
told French Connection to remove their ads from billboards throughout
the city, according to the Boston Metro.

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