The Hairy Truth About Boy Scouts

An ad campaign by Ogilvy Atlanta shows the true face of the Boy Scouts :

After decades of showing nothing but beardless Scouts, it’s refreshing to see ads that show what the young campers really look like after spending time in the woods.

I remember that when I was twelve we’d come off a weekend camping trip looking like a pack of Amish hobos. So as not to frighten our parents, the Scoutmaster always made us shave before we headed home (“No, you can’t keep even a goatee,” he’d invariably tell us). We also had to pledge an oath not to speak of our Scouting-induced hirsuteness.

That sort of white-washing always struck me as contrary to the ethos of Scouting. It’s good to see them coming clean about the fact that not all Boy Scouts are clean-shaven.