This was a big Chillul Hashem IMO, and these boys could be prosecuted potentially for malicious mischief and defacing property. Moreover, they are on camera! No deniability. We do not live in a country where one gets to pick and choose which civil laws to follow without repercussions. They had to be looking up PRETTY high to see this ad, and it was not like the women pictured were wearing undergarments (and even if they HAD been, there is a right way and a wrong way to go about expressing your feelings). Don’t shop in H and M and let them know why, and they will soon get the message.
there was a far worse situation going on along Rockaway Boulevard parallel to JFK. A “Gentlemen’s Club” (whose clientelle were anything BUT gentlemen) had three separate HUGE posters of a woman barely wearing anything, posted so that it was unavoidable to see them. A civic minded group comprised of frum Jews and the locals who were not Jewish but were outraged,successfully got this place closed down on legal grounds, and the pictures were then blacked out. It took a while, but the aqueaky wheel does eventually get greased.
There is no question even in the non-Jewish mind, that pictures of barely dressed women should not be visible in a public place where children pass by. But NOT all people agree that pictures of women wearing slacks or short-sleeved shirts are untzniusdig. And in that case, keep your eyes away from the pictures of things that you can potentially see on any street in NY at any time.
You have the right NOT to expect to see bikini-clad women in giant size posters, especially as it is a traffic hazard. But the pants are another issue entirely. I personally do not wear that type of attire nor do my daughters, but it is reasonable (and considered to be modest)attire for the non-Jewish velt, and HELLO – we live in a non-Jewish velt, whether we like it or not, and have their standards with which to contend. The people involved in this event erred IMO, in their kana-us (I give them the kaf zechus, here, because they might just have been out and out vandals). In any case, they were wrong, especially as the best way to effect a change is to hit someone in the wallet.