Who can forget the advertising campaign a number of years back that threw social watch dogs into fits over Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF). That particular advertising foray employed the lithe bodies of teen and preteen boys and girls in a way which, while certainly drawing attention, underscored today's excessive use of underage sexuality in advertising. Parent groups and child protective agencies were enraged, as well they might be. However, a recent ad campaign launched by Beyonce and her House of Dereon, clothes for girls, makes Abercrombie's misadventures look about as harmless as a day at the zoo.

A blog post presented by our sister blog Styledash, reveals the shocking truth about the clothing ad campaign, which is the brainchild of Beyonce and her mother, Tina Knowles. Blogger Kristen Seymour espouses the danger in this type of advertising by describing the presentation in the terms of "Go on, baby, and earn your lunch money the old-fashioned way."

The gallery provided by Styledash is self-explanatory and might serve to turn the stomachs of little girl's parents everywhere. Certainly, Beyonce and her advertising agency have accomplished what they wanted to. We can also believe that Abercrombie & Fitch shall benefit slightly with a parallel focus to its own questionable advertising strategy. However, we need only to remember the enigmatic fate of JonBenet Ramsey to realize down which road this type of advertising strategy may lead.

(Thanks to Styledash for the tip, Additional thanks to Gawker)

Across the Weblogs, Inc. network a brand-new blog has opened (welcome to the excellent StyleDash!), and I was searching its pages for nuggets that might affect stocks we cover. I think we can all agree (for instance) that Wal-Mart: not stylish (no matter what the very à la mode Anne Metz says, I won't believe it). GE? Nice commercials, but not stylish. Apple? Hella stylish. eBay? Jury's out.

And as we're ticking off the companies that are oft-featured here on BloggingStocks, the biggest question that sprung to mind: how does Starbucks Corporation (NYSE:SBUX) rate on style factor? As someone who mercurially flits from independent, locally-owned, ultra-hip coffee shop to Starbucks and back again, sometimes in a single day, I'm brilliantly positioned to say: not high. Styledash's Nic Lloyd couldn't agree more.

He says, "I was tired of Starbucks and other chain coffees -- tired of the taste and the price." He finds something better, an Ethiopian coffee called Dancing Goats. It's not that much different from the Ethiopian pours I've raved for myself. Let's face it, Starbucks, fashionistas have long since left your faux Euro tables and turned to more fabulous barstools, where the coffee tastes of orchids, wild blueberries and vanilla ... not burnt beans.

After all, the most famous customer of Starbucks today? Britney Spears. I needn't (I think you'll agree) say more.