Ryan McGinley, the by some measures overrated photographer of nubile young playthings, has gone and shot an ad campaign for Wrangler, the denim of choice for Americans afraid of anything bespeaking style or originality when it comes to jeans. Despite the fact that the Wrangler brand is about as exciting as Gap and is in desperate need of a major overhaul, the McGinley ads, which, like the vast majority of his oeuvre, feature skinny white people hanging out with one another in various states of undress, will only run in Europe. Why? Because they're "disturbing," and would likely upset the delicate sensibilities of back-to-school shoppers at shopping malls around the country or something. It seems some people are interpreting the ads as endorsing the murder and rape of young females? It looks to us like the "murder victims" in question are actually supposed to be "animals" stalking prey in their natural habitat (the tagline, "We are animals," seems to corroborate this point of view), but what do we know.
Either way, we're headed out to by some EDGY Wrangler jeans right now.
More images after the jump: