Posted on 11/14/2005 3:01:34 PM PST by wagglebee
A veteran Illinois lawmaker is commending an effort that compelled clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) to listen to thousands of teenage girls voicing their complaints against a line of shirts they found objectionable.
Last week officials with A&F announced that the company would stop selling some of its T-shirts with controversial slogans. The action came after a protest, dubbed a "Girlcott," that was sponsored by the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania (WGF) and spearheaded by a group of 13- to 16-year-old girls in Allegheny County who jointly called upon young women across the U.S. to stop shopping at the popular A&F chain until the clothier agreed to stop selling several of its so-called "attitude Ts."
The T-shirts targeted by the "Girlcott" bore slogans supposedly designed for laughs, but which many of the teenagers considered offensive, degrading, or derogatory toward women and girls. Some of the slogans emblazoned across the offending shirt fronts include, among others, "Anatomy tutor," "Please tease," "Available for Parties," and "Who needs brains when you have these?"
Two teens representing the Pennsylvania girls' group appeared recently on the Today Show to talk about the WGF's call to protest A&F's "attitude Ts." In an interview with NBC's Katie Couric, 16-year-old Emma Blackman-Mathis and 13-year-old Jettie Fields described why they were encouraging other girls nationwide to shun these T-shirts and the retailer distributing them.
Blackman-Mathis noted that many of the shirts' messages "get really, really offensive to me, just because they're very degrading to my friends and myself." And Fields observed, "It really just disgusts me .... We would not want anyone exploiting us, so why would we exploit ourselves?"
Reportedly, after the Today show interview and other media appearances by teens promoting the "Girlcott," the A&F Co. headquarters in Ohio was inundated with media inquiries. Shortly afterward, the company issued a statement saying it had reached an "amicable agreement" with the WGF of Southwest Pennsylvania "under which we will stop selling several T-shirts in our stores."
Stating its recognition that the shirts "might be found to be objectionable to many young women, who are among our best customers," A&F announced it had contacted Heather Arnet, executive director of the WGF, and offered to discuss the issue. The retailer stated that it looked forward to "meeting in person with representatives of the 'Girlcott' action in the immediate future."
Steve Rauschenberger is a state senator in the Illinois General Assembly who introduced a resolution asking the clothing store to stop selling the shirts. In comments on the Fox News Channel, the legislator said the WGF and the teens who helped make the "Girlcott" happen are to be commended for their successful protest. "It's about free speech, which is why we should be proud of the actions of these young ladies," he noted.
Senator Rauschenberger says a resolution in the Illinois General Assembly is the primary way the General Assembly officially communicates its position. In his resolution calling for A&F to voluntarily withdraw the offensive T-shirts, he points out, "We didn't propose censorship -- we were supporting the good work of these young ladies."
The Illinois Republican says he expected public outcry over the shirts to affect A&F's bottom line eventually. "In the past when Abercrombie & Fitch has gotten in trouble, they've actually seen sales decline," he notes, "so I wasn't as concerned about that." However, he adds, "I thought it was important to stand with the girls and share the message with parents that Abercrombie & Fitch was out of line."
Ultimately, Rauschenberger says, the controversy over A&F's provocative T-shirts proves that large corporations will listen to concerned consumers who voice their dissent. He says that is because the companies realize that kind of publicity is never good for a retail store.
Moral absolutes ping
I think they are outvoted by buyers...
A&F finds out that marketing to ho's has its consequences.
I'm of two minds about this. As a father of a daughter, I really don't like the whole "slutty is cool" marketing blitz the past few years.
OTOH, if you don't like it, don't buy it. I know a few college age and older ladies who would love T-shirts like that, and can afford to shop at A&F. It seems like these "outraged" ladies are imposing their standards on the rest of us.
My old social studies teacher put it well: "This a free country, and you are free to swing your arms; but your right to swing your arms ends at the end of my nose."
Reminds me of the good folks who picket outside those little stores that sell candles, incense, crystals, herbs and "wicked" books. If you don't like it, don't shop there. If nobody shops there, they'll go out of business.
Doesn't even remotely apply. - There is zero connection between criminal assault and battery, and what these girls did. - and it is unfair of you to suggest it.
They didn't go and beat up the gay fashion designers, or torch an office building of A&F.
Or even paint slogans on the storefronts.
They simply expressed the economic power & consequence of ticking off a good part of the people that you are selling to.
That is something good, IMO, and tough news for SlutCo, and the Hollywood elite.
Interesting that the left-wing blogs are lauding these young girls as well.
For the record I wouldn't want any daughter of mine wearing that crap, but would the media and their buddies laud boys who protested 'Girls Rule, Boys Drool' t-shirts? I have seen a number of t's that slam guys, nobody seems too riled up over those.
Let me guess...the old social studies teacher you referred to was when you were in about 5th grade.
Actually, High School.
Mr. Maxon was a staunch conservative, highly intelligent, and taught me most of what I know about the Republic.
We even ran a computer simulation that called the '84 Presidential election within a few percentage points.
(FYI I graduated in '86.)
After the second time I didn't hand in an assignment on time and complete, he threw my sorry butt in detention. And did it every single time. No excuses.
Best teacher I ever had.
I object to the t-shirts that demean boys, just for the record. I can imagine what would happen if boys wore shirts advising people to throw rocks at girls!
I'm glad to hear that at least some girls are beginning to realize that if you hand out invitations you better be prepared to throw the party. And next I hope they'll realyze that if you curse like a sailor, you better not expect to be treated like a lady.
According to Google search, she's a young rabble-rouser for a variety of far-left causes. Oh yeah, she's also a lesbian (obviously-what self-respecting straight girl would wear hair and make-up like that?)who says she came out in the eighth grade. Still backing her cause?
Support companies that support morality and life. Check this out: Mutual Funds.
I back her cause, her personal life notwithstanding. She is a co-belligerant on this one issue. If you had daughters you would understand.
A couple years back, some wrote a letter to my hometown newspaper complaining about some posters and billboards put out by the milk industry, saying they bordered on the pornographic. In response someone else wrote back, calling the earlier correspondant a prude and an idiot for thinking there was anything sexual in naked female and male models being covered in milk.
Simple. Don't like it? Don't buy it.
It cracks me up to see young women wearing shirts emblazoned with slogans like those across the front.
I'm amused by how stupid it is to proclaim to the world of one's blind idiocy. It's like carrying around a sign that says, "Pick Me - I'm TRASHY!
And now, an anecdote on this subject - a true story from the life of this ol' Draka:
One morning a few years back, I was going through my morning routine of dropping by the Quik-Stop to pick up a cup of coffee on my way to work.
As I came out with my coffee and smokes, I saw a hideous beast of a woman putting gas in her tank. I mean she was ugly - butt-ugly. Obese, pasty, dirty, and wearing a belly-shirt and one of those pairs of shorts that had a slogan on the back.
When I read the word printed across that woman's sagging, nasty-looking butt, I had to duck into my car real quick so she wouldn't hear me laughing at what her shorts had written on them.
Now I suppose the word was supposed to imply that she was so dead sexxay that she always gets everything she wants.
I interpreted it in a completely opposite fashion.
The word?
SPOILED
The moral of the story is this:
Never advertize your goods with a word that some of the population associate with the contents of the mysterious Tupperware bowl that's been in the back of the refrigerator for six months.
OMG LOL ROFLMAO!
RightWingAtheist blows the lid off this story AND wins the thread!
BTW, when I was in school, the only straight girls who dressed like that were in the Special Ed classes.
Did he look like this guy?
"But I NEED a cheeseburger, Mr Lahey!"
LOL
No, this guy was thin, handsome, blonde, and muscular.
That is funny though!
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