Recently we pointed to a barrier of taste being broken, with advertising designed to shock viewers with unvarnished demonstrations of car crashes and tracheotomies. Now it seems another, even more controversial bastion of taste is being challenged--decency.

Sexuality as part of a sales pitch is nothing new, of course. But lately, there are more and more signs that advertisers are willing to leave little to the imagination. Edgier brands targeting younger, hipper audiences are taking risks they weren¡¯t prepared to take before.

Remember the Calvin Klein jeans campaign from 1995, the one in which teenaged models were asked suggestive questions by an older, off-camera voice? Those ads evoked widespread public indignation (including from the president, pre-Monica), which prompted an apology from Klein himself. But not before the furor had multiplied the value of a relatively limited media budget.

Those ads now appear tame compared to the new wave. Boundaries are being stretched like never before.

Why the shift to more explicit material? Blame the Internet. Until recently, advertisers depended on paid media to get eyeballs for their advertising images or video, and paid media operates under the watchful eye of government regulators. On the Internet, anyone who owns a Web site can become a media owner and play largely by his or her own rules.

The Internet is also erasing the historical barriers that separated erotica and even hardcore pornography from mainstream culture. No more seedy theaters, shadowy stores or "discreetly wrapped" packages. Porn is now accessible any time in the privacy of your own computer terminal, cable box or hotel room.

At the same time, porn stars are making the transition to mainstream celebrity. Jenna Jameson is doing ads for the Adidas Group¡¯s Adicolor line, and now she¡¯s preparing to launch her own fashion line, a marked transition from infamy to fame.

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