The cover of a recent issue showed German model Heidi Klum nude on the front cover next to a naked man. The first half of the catalog features naked and near-naked very young, all-White models (who are not necessarily modeling clothes found later in the catalog) fondling and groping each other and themselves in sexually explicit positions. The middle of the catalog shows a few pages of clothes (sans models) followed by music, movie, video, and "hotspot" reviews. "Drinking 101" is a typical short article. It features drink recipes and a cutout quick-reference guide to cocktails, though few A&F patrons are legally old enough to drink. Recent interview features include Heidi Fleiss, Hollywood madame, and Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler magazine.
When challenged concerning their discriminatory racial stereotyping in the recent T-shirts featuring Asian-Americans as coolies, laundrymen, and rickshaw drivers--and labeling such as "Two Wongs Can Make It White"--A&F spokespersons called it "harmless fun." Kevin Lee refutes that rebuttal in his compelling article titled "Pimped by Abercrombie and Fitch: How the Whiter-Than-Thou Clothing Giant Is Selling Asian Self-Hate and Shame."2
A&F also denies inciting any problems with their thong panties for little girls. (A&F has withdrawn this product under public pressure.) Though A&F claims the undergarments are not for girls under 10, many outraged mothers say they fit 7-year-olds. It appears that A&F strives for the sexualization of even the youngest generations,3 recognizing that "brand loyalty" will pay future profits. The indifference of A&F's spokespersons to the critics' charge of marketing premature sexuality to innocent children for profit is striking and disturbing.
The greatest needs of today's youth in their fragmented and sometimes frightening world include the need to be loved and the need for acceptance. A&F exploits those needs for profit through multimillion-dollar false advertising that implies promiscuous sex, drinking, and reckless partying will fulfill these needs. "The ages between 12 and 18 are an especially vulnerable period in a person's life. Teens are beginning to assess and affirm their most basic values as they struggle to become adults. To exploit this period is to show no care outside of making a profit."4
I might share the quote from Laura Perachhio, professor of marketing and consumer behavior at the University of Wisconsin: "Companies are more apt to try radical attention-getters when business is hurting, which could be true of Abercrombie, whose earnings have flattened out, with stock down sharply."
I might also encourage my youth group to discover the focus of A&F's marketing angle, which could include the following: celebration of Whiteness, celebration of drinking, celebration of rebellion, celebration of irresponsible and uncommitted sex, celebration of mindless (noncerebral) fantasy (note A&F T-shirt that reads "What do I care if I'm late to class, he's wearing Abercrombie!").
We might discuss the issues of self-esteem and the dangerous message inherent in the quarterly's pages--"only this is beautiful, and this is all there is to being desirable."5 In a culture that values sports heroes, physical beauty, vulgarity, trash talk, and consumerism while often devaluing the aged, academic pursuits, loyalty, servant leadership, and selfless compassion for the poor, A&F's priorities are particularly troubling.
Our youth group might also discuss the concept that pornography "degrades everyone who participates in it--the models, the producers and the buyers."6 When pornography is used as an advertising tool, it demeans customers by assuming that they are incapable of being marketed by subtlety or cognition and can be enticed only by a blatantly sexual campaign.7
I might also invite my youth group to discuss this paragraph: "Sex sells.
. . . Virtue tends to lose to vice, particularly among those who view the vice as compellingly forbidden. . . . Escapist art now comes in a clothing catalog, and instead of inspiring the mind to deep thoughts, it inspires the viewer to find his Visa card" "while A&F executives smile all the way to the bank."8
Other Suggestions
The Pittsburgh Coalition Against Pornography suggests the following thesis for Bible study:
Through the content of its advertisements and programs, the media drives young people's economic decisions, shapes their values and standards, and keeps their focus on themselves, thereby driving a wedge between young people and God's plan for their lives.
Contrast the biblical principle of stewardship of God's resources with the economics of media manipulation by looking at the amount of money available for teens to spend, the network of companies positioned to direct the flow of teen spending, and the marketing tools these companies use.9
Examining with teens the manipulative techniques of corporate America and its impact on the values of our current culture is only one phase of the battle to save our youth for heaven. I maintain that the most effective way to combat the destructive impact of Abercrombie and Fitch is to make known "the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:16).
If we work with simplicity, humility, and the power of the Holy Spirit, identifying sin as the evil that betrayed our closest Friend, I believe we will have success that goes far beyond mere market analysis. I want our youth to know peace and meaning through a life given in unselfish service to Jesus. I want my focus to be on Christ and Him crucified--the wonders of eternal life--and not so much on our jaded society. I want our youth to have a passion for lost youth, a passion to help the poor, a passion to hasten the coming of Jesus.
I believe that the most effective way to encourage our youth to be "in the world" but not "of the world" is to provide them service and evangelism opportunities. In an environment of united prayer, praise, and work for others, the Holy Spirit can make progress in changing our hearts. Only Jesus can keep us faithful in a degraded culture exposed to the machinations of the one who comes to us with "great wrath," knowing "his time is short" (Rev. 12:12, NIV).
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1 Erin Boyington. "Sex Sells," Spokesman-Review, Feb. 3, 2003, p. B-1.
2 See www.hardboiled.org/5.5/55-08-af.html.
3 Boyington, p. B-7.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Laura Vanderkam, "Abercrombie & Fitch in the Unreal World." www.shethinks.org/articles/an00169.cfm.
9 www.pittsburghcoalition.com/abercrombie.html#bible study.
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Cindy Tutsch is an associate director of the Ellen G. White Estate and has been in youth ministry for 34 years.
HE ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH Quarterly is a catalog/magazine published by the upscale retailer (A&F) that is incredibly popular among the 15- to 19-year-old demographic,1 along with hordes of preteen girls already hooked on the Abercrombie and Fitch label. Though the catalog carries a warning on the wrapper--"Due to mature content, parental consent suggested for readers under eighteen"--it is displayed right next to the store's cash register, effectively marketing pubescents as well as the alleged demographic. Some analysts claim A&F's biggest market is young teens and preteens, as any visit to a mall or middle school will attest.
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