American Apparel is officially out of control.

It started with 70s porn kitsch in their store, models in increasingly compromising positions and an obvious embrace of the amateur porn aesthetic. It went from the titillation of using “real workers” as their models to using “real porn stars.” And now, there is the Booty Hunt.

The call is out for people to submit booty-only pictures of themselves wearing American Apparel underwear. Their booty will then compete for a chance to have it be the “face” of their underwear line — awarded to the booty that a panel of company judges (ahem, Dov Charney) deems “the best bottom in the world.” The ten runners up will enjoy $300 of merchandise from the company.

Here’s a catch: your booty will be placed in the online gallery to be oogled and judged by thousands of viewers, Hot-or-Not style. I first felt bad for the booties that got less than 2.0 out of 5, but really, they brought it on themselves.

I think that this is the last straw. I am officially pissed off about their shameless pornification of their brand. For a long time they hid behind their sweatshop-free policy: Yeah they objectify women, but they are progressive about labor (a claim that has been undermined by their anti-union stance.)

The amazing thing about American Apparel is how ingenious their brand is. Sleaziness really just reads as irreverence. And for all of the people I know who think that the multiple sexual harassment lawsuits are deplorable, most of them still shop there, and more than likely are currently wearing at least one item from there — myself included. At some point however, there is a tipping point. It may come when another company emerges as a true competitor — in both politics and style — but without the obvious porn invocation.