Abercrombie & Fitch to your kids: Group sex now!

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Friday, November 14, 2003 | Kevin McCullough

[JohnHuang2]

Abercrombie & Fitch to your kids: Group sex now!

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Posted: November 14, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Forty-five specific portrayals of sexual imagery in the first 120 pages, advice to the readers ... this is how the new Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly titled "The Christmas Field Guide" begins its new quarterly magazine that is targeted to your 10- to 13-year-olds. The 45 images include overt portrayals of group sex, lots of teen and young adult nudity, men kissing, and teens /young adults frolicking in a river engaging in sexual activity in multiple group settings.

Did I mention that the actual clothing doesn't begin being advertised until page 120?

Abercrombie & Fitch are not new to this game and they are taking a huge bet this Christmas season. The wager is ... you won't care enough to do anything about it.

For the last four years a handful of concerned parents and citizens have been waging a miniature war on the popular teen clothier. Each year, the clothier has made hollow gestures at trying to "reform its act." But these attempts are not only insincere, they are laughable. Laughable – but they are not funny.

Each year, thousands of children across America beg their parents to get them the latest t-shirt, jeans, jacket or underwear from "A&F." (Yes they even market a line of thongs for 8- to 10-year-old girls made to stick up out of the "low cut" jeans they also sell.) Many of these parents, completely unaware of how "A&F" goes about marketing, plunk down thousands of dollars around the holidays ... and Abercrombie & Fitch continues to profit.

This year will be different. Thousands of consumers are being put on alert as to the marketing methods of the clothier, web-log writers are going to be commenting on it, church and para-church groups are organizing protests, and this year we will even advise investors via direct links to popular business Internet sites like CBS Marketwatch as to the marketing methods the company is willing to use.

After all, they do say, "We don't just sell clothes, we promote a lifestyle!" And what kind of "lifestyle"?

Well, in this year's issue in the "sexpertise" column on page 279, a lady presumably qualified to be referred to as a "sexpert" states that kids going to college this year, "shouldn't be looking for someone to marry." Nope, when it comes to sex, kids should be "focused on getting experience." The "sexpert" is also asked about and gives advice concerning the issue of doing "sex for three." She also advises reader's to be willing to "go down" on a date at the movies, "just so long as you do not disturb those around you." And, of course, what kind of column would a "sexpertise" column be if it did not address the issue of self-stimulation.

There is also a comparison column for the hormonally driven young men in the "A&F" readership comparing the "fruits" of biting into "fresh apple right off the tree" vs. the "store-bought variety that sit on the shelf wrinkled and bruised from the handling." This column is not comparing fruit at all but the benefits of teenage men sleeping with perky school girls vs. "sexy" older women, even married ones.

So the plan of action?

This year's is multi-fold:

1. Read this column and forward it to everyone you know.

2. Dial the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families (toll free) 888-877-7723.

3. Add your voice to the growing list of parents, teens and citizens who wish to see sexually transmitted disease rates reduced, and less teen pregnancy by signing the letter of protest at Stop A&F.

4. And by all means spend no money with Abercrombie & Fitch this year. (American Eagle, H&M and a variety of other clothiers provide clothing that is equally fashionable to the style of Abercrombie & Fitch – but without the unnecessary nudity and sexualization of Americans aged 10 to 18.)

In a day in which more parents than ever are concerned about the likelihood of their daughter getting pregnant, their child being sexually active long before they are mature enough to handle the consequences or the rampant spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the "younger than 20" demographic today – it's time to stop Abercrombie & Fitch.

Abercrombie & Fitch is wagering you won't care about what they do, so they've rolled the dice. For me, my money is on the decency of you and the hope you have for the future of your kids.

So ... I'll take that bet!

[JohnHuang2]

Friday, November 14, 2003

Quote of the Day by OldFriend

[Cyclops08]

sounds like child porn.

[expatguy]

I hate to go off all half-cocked without seeing any real evidence of this so I can judge for myself.

[ecru]

darn it...and i like their clothes too... =(

i went to their website, it was pretty tame...

[ecru]

darn it...and i like their clothes too... =(

i went to their website, it was pretty tame...

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Go to one of their stores- they are definitely on-board for the gay agenda, and their models are a LOT younger than seems reasonable.

[Experiment 6-2-6]

sounds like child porn.

It does, doesn't it? Except we ALL know that the models have to be 18, especially in a national store.

What the writer forgets to mention in this hit piece is that the Quarterly isn't sold to under anyone younger than 18, so I'm not sure "that is targeted to your 10- to 13-year-olds"...

Indeed, I find it odd that the writer also interchanges them targeted 10 to 13 year olds as those same "kids going to college this year". I suppose if you adopt the anti-gun crowd tactics "It's for the chiildruuun" this argument works either way..

[drlevy88]

What the writer forgets to mention in this hit piece is that the Quarterly isn't sold to under anyone younger than 18,

Not "marketed" maybe, but not sold? This is like claiming that nobody under age 18 gets a smoke or drink that he shouldn't.

[NYpeanut]

They want to know how you really feel at the website where you can shop for their overpriced crap.

[Grut]

I suppose if you adopt the anti-gun crowd tactics...

Does anyone else remember when Abercrombie & Fitch sold guns?

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

She also advises reader's to be willing to "go down" on a date at the movies, "just so long as you do not disturb those around you."

Of course, such advice is encouragement to break the law. It is against the law to engage in sex acts in public in most jurisdictions....but then, oral sex isn't sex anymore.

I was wondering how you don't disturb those around you when your head is obviously bobbing up and down on your date's lap.

That, I believe, is what the FBI would call a "clue."

[dakine]

This is a 2.8 billion dollar company with good valuations, they must be doing something right...

[tiamat]

And just who are these "8 to 10 " year olds buying the sexy underwear? Where are the parnts?
Any parent who just hands money to a 10 year old and turns them loose in the mall deserves the results.

I'm not buying it. We have an A&F at the local mall, and it is NOT aimed at young kids.

Seems to be college age stuff.

Tia

[AppyPappy]

This is a 2.8 billion dollar company with good valuations, they must be doing something right...

They make the trains run on time?

[dakine]

Funny...You can't deny what I wrote...

[bk1000]

"Does anyone else remember when Abercrombie & Fitch sold guns?"

Yes! They were a high-end outfitter. Premium Italian shotguns, big game double rifles. Cool stuff. I was bewildered the first time my niece said she wanted to shop there. (Why does she want hunting clothes?) Imagine my surprise.

[AppyPappy]

Bill Clinton was elected twice. I'm sure he was doing something "right".

If you think marketing sex to 11-13 year olds is "right". I can't convince you otherwise.

[dakine]

I thought you had to be 17 years or older to receive one of their catalogues... And what does Clinton have to do with valuations of A&F?

[AppyPappy]

I thought you had to be 17 years or older to receive one of their catalogues

But not to read them. You can be any age to read them. Teens are really hot on A&F stuff and it is being pushed at them by the company.

And what does Clinton have to do with valuations of A&F?

What does valuation have to do with morals? Is it OK to sell ground glass in baby food as long as your valuation is good?

[dakine]

Ground glass in baby food ='s marketing aimed at PARENTS who are spending $$...Yeah, I see the correlation...

This all started with me commenting that A&F is a strong $2.8 billion company...

[Elsie]

bump

[MadelineZapeezda]

Except we ALL know that the models have to be 18, especially in a national store.

Are you being sarcastic with this remark?

[Hawkeye's Girl]

You have to be 18 to get the catalog. They card you, and the catalogs are in opaque wrappers in the store.

I like A&F. If some idiot parent buys the catalog for her 13 year old, how is that my problem?

[Elsie]

Simple....

YOUR 13 yo is her FRIEND and they spend MANY giggly hours together!

[Chancellor Palpatine]

On Italian shotguns - a scattergun is a scattergun. I never saw the point in the expense of one of those high end shotguns, when a cheaper, off the shelf American gun will do the same thing.

Rifles are another story, and the extra expense is justified.

[donning flame suit]

[Hawkeye's Girl]

Well, I don't have any kids, but I'd think it'd be my responsibility as a parent to know if the parent of my daughter's friend is a moron. Moreover, it's also my job to instill the proper values in my daughter so even if she does look at this stuff (which isn't that bad anyway, no porn or anything) at her friend's house, she understands that actions have consequences and that sex belongs in marriage.

[Drawsing]

It is not your problem directly, but it is indirectly. Like it or not, media (including print) influences the culture. We live in the culture. We may not watch Natural Born Killers and Kill Bill and look at A&F catalogs, but our neighbors do. We have to live, work and go to school with people who may live and breathe and wear this stuff.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

We have to live, work and go to school with people who may live and breathe and wear this stuff.

Exactly right.

My biggest fear regarding my daughter is not what she will decide to do, but what her ignorant, ill-raised peers/classmates/etc decide to do, and how it'll affect her.

I've never purchased an A&F item, nor will I ever. IMO, they're only contributing to the decay of society.

We slouch one step closer to the Abyss, and no one does anything about it...

[T'wit]

Nowadays, if you manufacture or sell such harmful products as alcohol, tobacco, guns, SUVs, juicy hamburgers or hot coffee, you are likely to get sued. But you don't hear a word from the talking heads or the lawsuit-crazy lawyers about the moral blighting of America by liberal culture. Where are the pundits and the trial lawyers when Hollywood sells violence, perversion, pornography, profanity and blasphemy? When schools sell ignorance, intolerance, atheism, disrespect, and unpatriotic, anti-American values? When TV and news media sell every imaginable variety of immorality, falsity and stupidity?

OK, trial lawyers, will you go after Abercrombie & Fitch for selling kiddie porn with the conscious intention of corrupting the morals of minors? Those kids will suffer far higher incidence of venereal disease, pregnancies, abortions, drug abuse and addiction, infectious diseases, HIV, hepatitis C, alcoholism, mental illness, confusion of sexual identity, depression, criminal behavior, conviction and imprisonment, and suicide. These consequences are all well known and the subject of a great many studies.

[bk1000]

Flame suit not needed. I mostly agree. My dad doesn't see why someone would spend $100K on a Porsche when a Buick costs much less, and still gets you there. After all, there ARE speed limits! Agreed, the accuracy of a shotgun is not improved by the addition of burled walnut and engraving.

[AppyPappy]

Your 13 year-old daughter goes to a friend's house. The friend has the catalog. All the girls coo over the slutty fashions and marvel at all the women who are happy while being sexually active. An idea being pushed by A&F to sell product.

Conclusion: You are a lousy parent because you don't lock your daughter in a closet until she is 18.

[AppyPappy]

Ground glass in baby food ='s

You are being inane. A&F isn't pushing sex at the parents. Hello??? They are pushing it at the teens who are spending the money.

[Dante3]

I agree with you. A&F obviously has an agenda -- and has been pushing for this for years -- to destroy family values and make the perverted mainstream. Those who do not have children do not always realize how difficult it is to insulate children from the bad influences on TV & from their peers.

[Bee-9]

It's not your problem, but their over sized ads seen in the mall are every parents problem. Clothing catalogs in opaque wrappers ...what are they selling clothes or sex?. I seemed to have missed the sex column in Sears and Pennys. A&F may card you, but their ad campaign is aimed at the youth market and many of their models look 18 or younger. If they have to sell their clothes this way ... they must be crap!

[dakine]

The parents are the ones who control the spending, either by doing it themselves or choosing what they allow their kids to spend it on...
Inane is blaming marketing, next you will be telling me that McDonalds causes obesity...

[stainlessbanner]

Wear this instead

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Couple that with many parents that are too busy to properly take care of their children, so they feel compelled to compensate by spoiling them by buying into all of this "trendy" crap.

[Dante3]

Also, some parents don't care or are too busy or naive -- and their children are put at risk. Some seem to think that these are "throwaway children." F&A's agenda is sick. And child porn in any form is perverted and evil.

[wideminded]

My son recently wanted to pick up some stuff at Abercrombie. The shopping bag they give you is baically a piece of gay porn. We argued about who would carry it around the mall. :)

[TontoKowalski]

Abercrombie & Fitch are not new to this game and they are taking a huge bet this Christmas season. The wager is ... you won't care enough to do anything about it.

Well, I know I'm swimming against the tide here, but they'd win that bet. Fact is, I don't care.

The real scandal here is that they've turned a once fine purveyor of quality clothing and supplies into a trendy junk outlet for the Brittany Spears set.

You young-uns won't know this, but A&F used to sell high-end, extremely well made, classically tailored clothing. The stuff was intended to last for years and years. In my case, I still have a shirt with an A&F label that has got to be fifteen years old.

[Hawkeye's Girl]

You have to instill proper values in your kids. You also have to show them that if they screw up, there will be consequences. That's all you can do.

You can't avoid the secular world. You have to give your kids the tools to survive it intact, but it's their decision whether or not to use them.

[MissAmericanPie]

You couldn't hog tie my kid and make him wear AF. He would run away from home first, lol.

[dakine]

Thanks for the support...blaming the company is victimhood...

[AppyPappy]

You can't avoid the secular world

I disagree. As long as they are minors, they should receive protection from exploitation. These are not small adults. Otherwise, we may as well reinstitute sweat shops using child labor and just blame the parents if the kids go to work there.

A&F is pushing this stuff at teens. They know it. We know it. The kids know it. All this "coy" stuff is mere justification. A&F will have to accept responsibility for their actions.

[AppyPappy]

The parents are the ones who control the spending,

You are naive. Most kids have their own money to spend. A&F is pushing this stuff at kids. Blaming parents because A&F is pushing sex at kids is silly.

[dubyagee]

I guess I'll really get flamed, but I don't even want my college age kids reading about sex in an A & F catalog, that emphasizes that the key to sex is experimentation and going down in movie theaters. The world tells them enough that that is what it's about, and I sincerely doubt the credentials of an A & F sexologist. Wonder if they mention anything about STD's. Never bought the crap, never will. My daughter borrows her friends if she wears any, and doesn't argue with my postion on it. CRAP!

[dakine]

Kids have money to spend, but its the parents that have the say on where they may spend it....

[AppyPappy]

Parents should but don't always. But it is irrelevant. It's not right to push sex on kids even if parents don't care.

[Porterville]

It is a private industry, they are just nude pics, why not go after hustler or some local brothel instead, or why not focus energies in removing a dem from office.