The Case of Abercrombie
“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”
Last week clothing brand, Abercrombie, entangled itself in a P.R. mess. Quotes from CEO Mike Jeffries’s 2006 interview with Salon resurfaced causing public outcry about exclusion and discrimination. The company refuses to make sizes XL and up for women because it doesn’t want plus-size girls wearing its clothing. Furthermore, it doesn’t want anyone that’s not your stereotypical 1950s “all-American” in its apparel.
Yes, Abercrombie’s message is discriminatory, prejudiced, and repulsive, but for a company that’s been pulling shenanigans for years, I’m confused by the sudden outburst. If you’ve ever been inside a store or seen their marketing, their ideas of exclusivity should come as no surprise. At least they’re open about it.
In the A&F Cares Corporate Social Responsibility Mission, the company states that it will “stand for and achieve diversity & inclusion.” This could not be farther from what actually happens:
2002: Abercrombie released a line of Asian-themed t-shirts that depicted figures wearing conical Chinese hats and racial slurs. The t-shirts read “Wong Brothers Laundry Service — Two Wongs Can Make It White” and “Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash — Get Your Buddha on the Floor.”
2004: Abercrombie was sued for $40 million due to minority discrimination. The company was accused of hiring a disproportionately white sales force, putting minorities in less-viable positions, and fostering an all-white image.
A former sales associate spoke to Jezebel regarding the incident:
There is a “style guide” that hiring managers get to see. It contains almost no text – just a few dozen pages, each with a full-sized color photograph of different ethnicities – a male and a female for each. They are supposed to serve as examples of the kind of people you should hire. Presumably so the managers will know what good-looking minorities look like. And all of the minorities, by the way, are as white looking as a person can be without actually being Caucasian.
2005: Besides advocating WASP perfection, Abercrombie also has ideas about the perfect woman. She’s model-thin, beautiful, has large breasts, and is preferably blonde. The company released t-shirts sporting slogans like “Who Needs a Brain When You Have These?” “Gentlemen Prefer Tig Ol’ Bitties” and “Do I Make You Look Fat?”
2009: At their Mall of America store, Abercrombie prohibited a woman from helping her autistic sister try on clothes. The company was fined $115,264 for discrimination.
2009: The company banished an employee with a prosthetic arm from working on the floor because she did not fit the employee “Look Policy.” She was compensated for $12,240.
2010: A Muslim employee was allegedly fired for refusing to remove her hijab.
2012: Abercrombie sent a group of male models to Seoul, South Korea to pose with customers at their retail locations. Many of the models squinted their eyes in photos and sent out racist tweets. The models were fired.
I understand Abercrombie’s ideal customer and I understand that’s where their marketing is focused. Every company out there has their target client they advertise for whether they’re black or white, male or female, Catholic or Muslim. Abercrombie is simply more direct about it.
“Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either.” –Mike Jeffries, CEO Abercrombie
The real problem here, however, is that Abercrombie is harmfully discriminatory to anyone that doesn’t fit their unobtainable and passé ideal of a perfect customer. This is no longer 1960. Being a 6’5 blonde JFK look-alike is no longer what represents this country and I’m thankful for that. We embrace diversity or race, we celebrate women’s equality, and we accept different body types.
Abercrombie’s customers buy into their marketing, so I think the company will wear this scandal in time. Though they’ve lost millions of potential customers due to their blatant discrimination. The worst part? They’re ok with that.
vestimentum 
What do you think?