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Self & Society
Down and Out at Abercrombie: Porn and Political Incorrectness Now Up to 50% off! by Eric M Hoover From the clothing manufacturers who brought the world pre-wrinkled shirts and the "kid's thong" comes "The Discrimination Line." Abercrombie and Fitch clothing stores are now offering racially insensitive hiring practices and sexually explicit cloths at reduced prices. Over the past two years, Abercrombie has bared the burden of many separate discrimination lawsuits. These lawsuits range from sexually exploiting teenagers in both their ads and in their hiring tactics to racial discrimination of their employees and in their stores. The Wong Brothers Abercrombie's problem started back in 2002 when the clothing manufacturer began printing t-shirts plastered with satirical slogans such as "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make it White." These t-shirts grabbed negative attention from several Asian American Rights groups, as well at the media. As time passed, many of the Asian American rights groups, including the Organization of Chinese Americans, petitioned and protested the Mid-Western based clothing manufacturer. Their main concern was that Abercrombie, which designs cloths that cater to the views of the majority and base many of their styles on pop-culture, are attempting to make racism chic. A&F spokespeople insisted that the cloths were only meant to make people laugh and they could not understand why Asians did not find the shirts funny. Abercrombie continued to debate with many civil rights groups and fought several lawsuits throughout the first half of 2002. By mid-2002 the Abercrombie and Fitch head office released a statement apologizing for the insensitive images and slogans on their t-shirts and agreed on an initiative to remove all the racially discriminate shirts from their stores. (For more see link: Asian American Boycott of A&F.) A Closer "look" at Abercrombie In June of 2003, several organizations including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch. The plaintiffs alleged that Abercrombie discriminates against people of color (including Latinos, Asian Americans, and African Americans) in their hiring, job assignment, compensation, and other conditions of employment. All plaintiffs are young adults, mostly college-age, who alleged they were qualified to work at Abercrombie yet they were not hired or terminated due to their race, color or national origin. Other complaints stated that A&F enforces a corporate policy that prefers white people in sales positions and gives them favorable work schedules. Specific complaints laid out in the discrimination lawsuit states the clothing stores continually hire disproportionate amounts of white salespeople, known as "Brand Representatives," who fit the "look" of Abercrombie. Those who have the "look" are then utilized as recruiters for more similar looking employees. Abercrombie implements its employment policies as part of their so-called appearance policy. This policy requires that all Brand Reps must exhibit the "A&F look." This "look" is a virtually all-white image that Abercrombie uses not only to market its clothing, but also as a way to not hire any persons of color as managers or Brand Representatives. Managers have allegedly been encouraged to recruit white employees who fit this "look," while persons of color were discouraged from even applying. When Abercrombie does hire minorities those workers are usually denied access to work on the sales floor. Minority employees are more often placed on overnight shifts or in the stock room to keep them out of the public eye. Abercrombie maintains the "A&F look" by monitoring its stores with visits from regional and district managers. These managers visit to ensure that each store is implementing the clothing manufacturer's discriminatory employment policies. When managers discover minority Brand Reps working in stores, they have directed that they be fired, moved to the stock room or overnight shift, or have their hours zeroed out--the equivalent of termination. Abercrombie enforces compliance with the "look" by requiring all stores submit a picture of their Brand Reps who fit the "A&F look" to headquarters periodically. Corporate officials then select approximately 15 stores' pictures as exemplary models and distribute these photos nationwide. The Brand Reps in the pictures are almost consistently white. The class action lawsuit asks that Abercrombie halt its practice of discriminatory hiring and that all lawsuit members be awarded compensation for punitive damages and injunction relief. Several other similar anti-discrimination lawsuits have been filed against A&F in California, Ohio and New Jersey. The marketing and hiring campaigns of A&F seem not far off from those of alcohol and tobacco products. They show and hire beautiful people who appear to be having the time of their lives because of the alcohol they drink, the cigarettes they smoke and the cloths they wear. For more on the class action lawsuit against A&F visit: The Kid's Thong As a child I can remember my cartoon character plastered pairs of Hanes "underoos" featuring ghost-busters, kung-fu fighting turtles and superheroes galore. Today, they now have pull up diapers with cartoon characters on them to make little boys and girls feel like big kids. Now, thanks to Abercrombie and Fitch, underoos have taken a turn to the weird side. In 2002, the clothing manufacturer began marketing thong underwear in child sizes featuring words such as "eye candy" printed on the front. The child thongs are being marketed to girls ranging from the very young age of 10 to the still pretty young age of 15. A spokesperson for A&F claims that the thongs are supposed to be "cute and fun and sweet." Parents, on the other hand, do not find their 10-year-old daughters wearing thongs cute or fun or for that matter sweet. When asked what words do come to mind when thinking of the kid thong, parents tend to lean more towards "tasteless" or "disgusting." Though the thongs come in sizes for girls 10 years of age and older, smaller sizes can obviously fit girls as young as age 7. Several angered customers would confront store employees on a daily basis when the thongs first appeared as part of Abercrombie's Summer Fashion line. Abercrombie insists that once girls hit the age of 10 they start to care about how they look and what they wear. They will want to buy the thongs in order to look good and feel comfortable. Parents all over the country are still not buying it, accusing A&F of taking radical measures in order to turn a profit. Some parents have even gone so far as to call the trendy clothing company "pedophiles." (For more see link on the "Kid's Thong") Abercrombie's Gang Bang Christmas; it is a time for family gatherings, giving and receiving, celebration, and teen-aged orgies out in the wilderness. At least, that is what Abercrombie seemed to be promoting in their 2003 "Christmas Field Guide." The "field guide" (which is targeted to children ages 10 to 16) opens with a 45-page layout of college-aged and teen-aged models involved with group sex, groping sessions and nude kissing contests. Granted, images like these are more than welcome in the pages of Barely Legal. However, it is unlikely your 10 year old will be flipping through a skin mag to look for the latest fashion picks for the holiday season and if they are, it's time to start worrying. The pages of the A&F Christmas catalog do not even start promoting their seasonal cloths until page 120. Abercrombie has stated in the past they do not just sell cloths, they promote a lifestyle. Parents are not too thrilled with the type of lifestyle A&F appear to be promoting. Many of these parents, along with the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families, forced A&F to pull their sexually charged catalog from circulation during the 2003 Christmas season. (For more see link on the Christmas Field Guide.) The End of Abercrombie? All this controversy cannot be good news for Abercrombie and Fitch. Between 2002 and 2003, A&F stocks fell more than $10 a share. Yet by the end of 2003, the clothing manufacturer sold approximately $1.36 billion worth of cloths and accessories. In the past, many different types of companies have been more apt to try radical attentions grabbers when business is hurting. This could be said about Abercrombie; between group sex and thongs for the not-yet teen, the store seems to be spending the past few years trying anything and everything to get positive attention. Unfortunately the attention is far from positive and in the end, could end up costing Abercrombie and Fitch more than they can handle. Disclaimer: "Abercrombie," "Abercrombie and Fitch" and "A&F" are registered trademarks of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. These trademarks are used for informational purposes only. (A special thanks to Danielle Moskowitz, who suggested this story) About the Author(s): See under Our Contributors to find out about the Author(s) of this article. |
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