Abercrombie and Fitch Kerfuffle Blog Share

After the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch came out with his less-than-savory remarks about their advertising techniques and sizings, there have been a multitude of intelligent, well-thought-out blog posts and articles address the situation.

Two of our bloggers have taken on completely different areas of the issue, and what they've come up with is pure gold.

First Elizabeth Hawksworth writes "Dear Mike Jeffries, The "Abercrombie Kids I Knew Wouldn't Call You Cool" stating:

"The popular kids I knew weren't interested in perpetuating stereotypes. The kids I knew weren't friends, but they were friendly. They stood up for kids who got teased, and they fought for equality. There were kids who did care about exclusivity and putting others down, but they were few and far between when I was in high school. So, out of a huge population of high school students, you've got maybe five percent interested in the marketing strategy you're coming out with. What about the other 95 percent?"

Meanwhile, Monika from Aias.ca talks about the campaign to give your Abercrombie wear to those in need in her piece, Giving Abercrombie and Fitch Clothes to the Homeless Is Not Inspiring; It's Insulting.

"Yesterday I noticed a video going viral on social networking. In the video, a man is giving Abercrombie and Fitch clothes from local thrift shops to homeless people in an effort to "insult" the Abercrombie and Fitch CEO, Mike Jeffries because of his fat phobic and tasteless comments about not wanting "uncool" or "fat" people to wear the brand.

I honestly can't think of anything more classist and insulting than this. Basically, what this act is suggesting is that homeless people are so disgusting, untouchable, and "the lowest of the low" that anything they represent or wear is to be considered a horrible insult to that brand. It's fantastic to help the homeless, but if you are just exploiting their misfortune by trying to make a political statement, that's just plain...mean."

To read more about what either of these two women have to say, check out their blogs!

Elizabeth Hawksworth - Writer
Aias.ca




 

Should Children Be Involved in Protests?

How strongly do you believe in your cause? Would you risk your child's life? Where do your loyalties lie?

One woman apparently believes in the Occupy movement so much that she put her four-year-old daughter on train tracks to help shut down the Port of Portland.



Did it work?

Yes.

Was it worth it?

It wouldn't have been to me.

First off, no matter how strong your faith in humanity is, that faith cannot overcome the laws of physics to stop an oncoming train. No matter how moral the engineer is at the controls, his morality or sheer will cannot force a speeding object to stop in time.

Now, obviously, there are other factors at play (we hope) making this more safe than it would appear, but still, I would say this is a huge risk. Not one that I would take. Not one that I would have my unwitting children take. I have beliefs, but my love for my children outweighs them. I support the Occupy Wall Street movement, but I'm not going to put my kids in front of an oncoming train for it.

Let's take the life and death situation out of it for a moment, and look at how this statement affects the movement as a whole.

I would venture to say it make it weaker.

When protesting, you want to show that you believe in your cause without doubt or cause for remorse. A dead child would certainly be cause for remorse. You can do whatever you want with your own life. Why involve your child? Surely she does not hate the one percent so much that she doesn't even care if she sees kindergarten.

Actions like these take power away from the movement their activists are trying to purport and lend it to their enemies. If you look at this forum on Weasel Zipper, you'll see the comments full of rabid conservatives mingling with concerned parents, in turn mingling with people just there to say dumb things (like, kill them all. Oh, okay. Thanks for your imput.)

Like I said, I support the Occupy movement. Did I see this through them? Absolutely not. I saw this, along with a long diatribe on CPS and President Barack Obama, on my Facebook feed, posted by people who support shutting the protests down.

I'm sure that was not the mother's intent, just as an injury to or the death of her child would not have been her intent. But that's what happened.

When you protest, take stock of what your actions really say. You could hurt yourself, your loved ones or your very cause.

There's a difference, after all, between posting a cute picture of your twins in front of a paper sign,

and throwing them in front of an oncoming train.

I might be an armchair activist, but I'll take that over any inadvertent injury to my family. I'll take inaction and big talk over any action of mine giving fodder to those against what I believe in.

Don't use kids in your public service announcements. I've never once seen it work the way you hope it would.