Probably true the sticker was offensive to some but not all the parishioners, including parents. Most kids live in awareness of the internet from infancy and a lot of them are pretty jaded by the age of 7. Their parents were jaded by age 10... so elders assigning much import to something like "a cute sticker" might be unlikely.
The church leadership did not do itself a favor by engaging in some distinctly unwarranted "both sides" fence walking. The point of church leadership is to lead. Leadership is more than rote clerical administration. It's role modeling. What the youth pastor did was way out of line and offensive to the spirit of the church's guidelines, which after all do pertain to youth safety. That should have been the sole emphasis on the matter of "offensiveness".
Saying that the sticker was "offensive to some" lets those who didn't find it offensive shrug the matter off and even mark the incident as no big deal, kinda like getting a ticket for jaywalking or littering.
Whew. At least no points on the license for just offending "some" parishioners.
What else might not offend everyone in that church? A big hug now and then to a lonely kid might not be amiss? How about a private big hug? How about a little down home lovin'? Sharing a secret is so special...
One can hope the church will clarify its stance on its own rules whenever it finishes its stepping through its existing procedures that address mistakes made by staffers. Breaking the rules on personnel behavior is offensive to all because it weakens the intended safeguarding of the church's youngest members.
Personally I think all youth pastors should operate in pairs with the kids and ideally, one of them should be a woman. Of course that cannot stop all cases of inappropriate attention to kids that escalates to abuse, but it can reduce the chances. If I were a churchgoing parent these days, I'd insist on it.
Would two youth pastors decide that that sticker was a bridge too far? I don't know. But see there was just one, and he thought he was hot and he also knew that some of his little charges thought so too.