I would like to respond to [Abercrombie & Fitch spokesman] Hampton Carney’s comments that “the only complaints we get are from people who are older and don’t understand what we’re doing. This is specifically for 18- to 22-year-olds and no one else.”
I am a 22-year-old who works in public relations, meaning I am well-acquainted with the marketing venture of Abercrombie & Fitch. Though advertising clothes alongside sex is not an uncommon marketing tool — indeed, it seems to be an increasingly popular method of selling –Abercrombie & Fitch’s [magalog] and Web site are an overt and tasteless new class of pornographic material, especially considering its identified target market. As a person who is supposed to enjoy your [magalog], I would like to say I am tired of products being sold to me vis-à-vis sex, and I work hard to steer clear of products that choose to rely on it.
Therefore, Mr. Carney, I would like to let you in on something: You have it all backward. The people who dislike what A&F are doing understand exceptionally well how you are choosing to sell your product — and they disagree with it not because they don’t understand, but rather because they do.
Katie M. Stence, Public relations assistant, New York,
