

Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries has started a real viral backlash with his remarks about who his clothing is marketed at. There’s even a petition, though what it could accomplish doesn’t seem to compare to a boycott of the company. The whole uproar began when author Robin Lewis (The New Rules of Retail) spoke about Jeffries’ desire to market to only perfect people. Lewis said that Jeffries

“… doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people. He doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they’re one of the ‘cool kids.”

Lewis gleaned these facts from a Salon article on A&F and CEO Jeffries in January. In that article Benoit Denizet-Lewis spoke with the 61-year-old about his company and marketing strategy, touring the company’s 300-acre headquarters in Ohio and getting the inside story on the press-shy CEO’s next moves, one of which is a new 23,000 square foot flagship store. During the interview, Jeffries shared this:

“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.”

When he was asked about his hiring practices, he offered this charming statement:

“… we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.”

When these proclamations reached the Internet, they initiated a storm of controversy.

The petition, which has about 1,500 supporters, was started by Benjamin O’Keefe of Gotha, FL who points out, quite rightly, that Jeffries’ exclusionary policy harms teens. By saying that anyone who isn’t perfect can’t wear his clothes (which, for some reason, are considered “hip”) he adds to the already enormous pressure that teens are under to look like models. O’Keefe says that Jeffries is telling teens that they will never be good enough. That’s inexcusable.

It’s also pretty stupid. Why on earth would any businessman want to alienate potential customers? Most teens who wear his clothing are doing so because their parents, usually Mom, bought them. And Mom might not be a size 10. As a Rubenesque Mom myself, I know that I’m not and I wouldn’t buy from his store for my size 6 daughter, either. Not after this.

And one other thing… Between the plastic surgery, the hair dye and the inner ugliness that seeps from his pores, Jeffries is no prize himself. Personally, I think he needs to sit down and have a talk with the pot and the kettle about the color black. I am not shallow but he is so he should be judged by his own standards. This country has enough issues with body image, we don’t need this kind of exclusionary language aimed at our young people. Everyone is beautiful, as Ray Stevens once sang, in their own way.

T. Steelman is a life-long Liberal. She has been writing online about politics since 2007. She lives in Western Washington with her husband, daughter, 2 cats and a small herd of alpacas. How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is, after all, so poorly lit…