abercrombie & fitch sells to gays but do they suport them ?
So far as I have read that Abercrombie sells to the gay comunity, but they dont suport them. is that true or false..............................................................? I like there clothes ,I I bot 800.00 dollers worth of abercrombie & fitch on a credit card still paying it off. there polos run 49.99, so they raised them to 69.99 & I was kinda upset with them over that. 49.99 for polo is a lot asking already, but rasing the polos by another 20.00 is asking for trouble. Dose abercrombie Help the gay comunity lie do they attend the Gay pride perade & hand our condoms our do work in gay groups suporting them,,,,,<article I found > ---------------------------- Abercrombie & Fitch: So Gay, Not So Pro-Gay Posted by Dan Savage on Wed, Dec 6 at 3:50 PM Gay male consumers are, let’s be frank, total suckers. If a company shows us enough good-looking, half-naked young jocks wearing their products—or not wearing their products—we will buy their t-shirts, jeans, hoodies, socks, kitchen magnets, whatever. And for long as the company keeps market their products to us with boy tit (get that Bruce Weber guy in to shoot your ad campaign!), the gay shopping zombies will treat your company right. You would think, of course, that these boy-tit-flashing companies would recognize their dependance on the gay consumer and treat the gays right. Somehow despite their thoroughly homoerotic—and thoroughly effective—ad campaigns, Abercrombie & Fitch doesn’t feel like it needs to treat the gays right. Human Rights Campaign, a GLBT rights group, assesses corporations for their friendliness to gay and lesbian employees and consumers, looking at things like anti-discrimination protections, domestic partner benefits, and advertising practices. And HRC gives A&F a dismal 50 out of a possible 100 in their annual “Buying for Equality” guide. It can’t be that hard to get a perfect score from HRC: Gap, Levi Strauss, Nike, Nordstrom, and Sears—Sears!—all pulled in perfect 100 ratings. As much as I wish it were not the case, I doubt the news that A&F treats its gay employees like shit will matter much to the kind of gay men who wear A&F. The company markets to gay male consumers using the mystique of the impossibly beautiful, completely unattainable, likely hostile-to-homos straight boy. Internalized homophobia and thwarted longing infuses A&F’s marketing materials; some have featured “playful” and implied male-on-male gang rape. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that—so long the rape is just implied and, you know, playful and stuff.) But the guys in the ads are all exuberantly heterosexual—there’s usually a strategically placed girl, or a part of a girl, somewhere in the frame. (Can you spot the female?) These naked A&F boys are only comfortable naked around each other because the A&F boys in the ads are not just equally and impossibly beautiful, but equally and impossibly heterosexual. So they can safely romp naked in their locker rooms, lacrosse fields, and pastures—boxer shorts slung around their necks—because no upsetting male-on-male desire exists in the A&F universe. These guys aren’t sex objects to each other. They’re buds, and they’re safe around each other—a little assgrabbing won’t be misunderstood. Gay guys who wear A&F want to identify with that care- and homo-free universe. (Many of us copped a few feels in it before we came out.) It’s not they want to live in a world without homos—they do not—but because they at least want to look like they could live there. They want to believe that they, too, are impossibly beautiful enough and straight-acting enough to pass. For these guys, I’m afraid, news of the A&F’s anti-gay business policies will only reinforce the appeal of the brand. HRC wants us all to know that no self-respecting gay guy would wear A&F. We already know that, however, and that’s precisely why we wear it.
Public Comments
- what's with the stereotyping. I'm gay if you must know and don't wear abercrombie. Why should I pay 400 bucks for jeans there when I can buy for 15 at a regular store. If you look through my profile I posted a question about why abercrombie is over priced. It's no better then sears or jc penneys.
- I'm sorry, but I respectfully disagree with your rant. Obviously, A&F is very concerned about marketing to ALL customers. I'm sure the corporate office took the Human Rights Campaign rating very seriously, and will be reviewing company policies. Very few companies can afford to pay the price of prejudice, and that includes retailers like A&F. I'm sure policy change is imminent. That being said, I am an A&F associate, and the anti-discrimination policy was one of the first things I was made aware of when hired. I have never been discriminated against for my sexual preferences, nor have any of my fellow employees. In fact, I would be surprised if it has ever come up. We have some gay/non-heterosexual associates at my store, and they are treated no differently than anywhere else. I am sorry if that is not the case at every store. Managers have quite a bit of leeway with who they do/don't hire. Last I checked, though, being friendly, representative of the brand and attractive were the most important aspects of being hired. As for the advertising, part of 'casual luxury' is explicitly 'sex appeal.' As you may have noticed, that includes suggestive images of both men AND women. While I have yet to see two women posing near-naked/naked with each other, I feel that A&F has made a huge step forward in actually showing just men together... perhaps suggesting that it's OKAY for men to be together without women. As for the models, I am pretty sure they are in no way being exploited, and appear together with other models of their own volition for pay. However, I applaud your willingness to look outside cosmetic concerns about A&F and bring up concerns. I would urge you to bring your concerns in writing to the company directly, so that A&F can become a brand everyone, including gays, would feel comfortable shopping at. Also: the average pair of jeans sells for $70, not $400. Polo shirts tend to be $29.99 or $39.99. I have never heard of a $60 polo shirt. Also keep in mind Ralph Lauren polos are about $60 and Lacoste are $70. $40 is fairly reasonable for a good quality polo.
