(FORTUNE Magazine) – French fashion designer Emanuel Ungaro--traditionally known for providing couture for the hip, ultra-chic set--has tried a new marketing device: bestiality. His new ad campaign features a white German shepherd in a dominatrix mask; the dog licking model Kirsten Owen's feet; and, in possibly the most explicit ad, the dog mounting Owen from behind.

Alex Gonzalez, the creative director at A/R Media who oversaw the campaign, argues that while the ads may contain aspects of S&M, nobody's promoting porn. "I don't think the House of Ungaro is pushing bestiality one way or the other," he argues, somewhat perplexingly. He insists that the ads are just trying to lure shoppers, and take their cues from '80s glam rock & roll. (Never saw Madonna frolic with a dog during the entire decade.)

Both Gonzalez and Martha Kramer, president of Ungaro in the U.S., insist that the campaign has been an enormous success in France and Italy. Most likely it has. As one former fashion editor jokes, "You know how the French love their dogs."

--Jane M. Folpe