I have never been diagnosed with OCD not do I think I suffer from it but I certainly do have a some obsessive tendancies in me. This isnt anything that people need to worry about and what I mean by this is that once something interesting gets in my head I usually try to read everything I can about whatever it is until my thirst for knowledge is satisfied. I have done this for topics like Comic Book History, P.T. Barnum, Baseball, Movie History, Business and Marketing and most recently I have been focusing a lot of energy on the Startup Fund Y-Combinator and the Ceo of American Apparel, Dov Charney.

Dov Charney is a facination of mine and I have written about him a few times before on this blog. Part of what fascinates me is that if you look past the AA ads and if you look past the sexual harassment suits and the wacky stories that have been written about Dov in the press there is actually a lot of substance to the man.

Of course I say this without having met him nor am I making light of the seriousness of his harassment allegations but in a time where few (new) brands are cutting through the clutter, he has.

Like make a dress that can become dozens of different looking outfits with a little tinkering and they even made a serious of YouTube videos to show you how to do it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75UFm6ekj1s]

So taking all this into consideration is it possible that Dov Charney uses the nudity and the public masturbation as a way to not be taken seriously while at the same time he is really just smarter than us all. A modern day P.T Barnum who does remember that experience and image are important if you are going to capture people’s imagination. American Apparel is as well known for their “everyman” plain t-shirts as it is for the skin tight cool kids clothes, so in a way they have built a lasting brand without putting all their eggs in a “fad/trend” segment….if this was done on purpose I would say he is probably showing us what he wants us to see.

Or maybe he is just a guy who likes to masturbate.