The video, called "Stop the Sag," begins with negative, painful images of African-Americans from the past. And it condemns this latest trend as degrading, part of prison culture where belts are confiscated.
"My message is, let us not be the ones to make our communities seem foolish," Senator Eric Adams said. "If we raise our pants, we raise our image."
"Well I think it's a good idea, because I don't think it looks good, wearing their pants," Brooklyn resident Charles West said. "I mean, how they gonna run if they have to run?"
"I'm glad somebody's speaking up on the issue," Brooklyn resident Denis Washington said. "I mean, who wants to walk the streets and constantly see somebody? You know that's not good."
But a lot of young people like the idea of baggy pants, and they say this is no different from when parents objected to long hair in the 70s or rock 'n roll in the 50s.
One young man, with his pants very low, thought the whole idea was kind of silly.
"What we do, it's kinda like a style or something," teenager Jonathan Adams said. "I think we ought to be able to do whatever we want with out pants. It shouldn't be other people telling us how to wear our stuff."
Senator Adams is so passionate about the issue that he's spending some of his own campaign money, about $2,000, to put up a few billboards. Most of them are in Crown Heights.
This small campaign could backfire, as teenagers can be stubborn. But Adams is hoping a little publicity will lead to big things, the end of what some call a fashion trend, and others call embarrassing.
