A little off-topic today: Did you see the story about the Abercrombie and Fitch store in Virginia Beach being cited for violating the town’s obscenity laws? It’s here. Seems the posters showed a bit too much skin for some passersby, and the police agreed. A&F has a tainted history of showing us more than we bargained for, what with the flap over its catalog not too long ago.
This is a company that can’t even use the “we didn’t know” defense. They know. This past Christmas season, I walked past A&F in the mall. Lo and behold, there was a young man, younger than my oldest son, wearing nothing more than A&F jeans, which were slumped down past his hip bones. He was sporting a Santa hat. And he was alive – this was no poster. He was hired to greet people coming into the store. Young people. Young women (and dare I say those longer in the tooth).
The look on his face said it all – he felt exposed. He felt naked, if not certainly underdressed for the occasion. His arms were crossed in front of him, not in a casual, Brawny lumberjack way, but in a “this ain’t worth the cash I’m being paid” way. Part of me felt his pain. Another part of me was saying “Now do you understand?” For he was the mall version of the bikini girl at the car show/boxing match/fill in the blank. Perhaps A&F is on the forefront of something that will surely end the exploitation of women – it’s called the exploitation of men.
That they pipe their cologne into the air system and waft it out into the mall aisles is odd enough. I guess those with perfume allergies aren’t their primary market. Nor are people who find the blatant use of sex and body parts as advertising tools offensive. Yet I wonder – whenever someone trumps their gimmicks and their edginess softens, will their products be enough to draw the consumers?
(Here’s where I make it writing-relevant for you…)
We writers don’t have the luxury of using sex to sell our product (unless we’re wielding additional client services we shouldn’t be, but I digress). We have to use our talents to keep it all fresh and relevant every day without the benefit of a buff young model of any gender. We have the ability to stretch beyond gender and go right to the talent portion of our competition.
The moral of the story: I shouldn’t read the news before I’ve had my first cup of tea. 😉
“We writers don’t have the luxury of using sex to sell our product”
Unless we happen to be romance writers. 🙂 I’m not, but I couldn’t resist.
But seriously, I’m not far from the store in question. We are an extremely conservative region, and I hadn’t paid much attention to the story assuming it was an overblown case of molehill-made-mountain. I couldn’t tell you the last time I was in a mall, obviously, or I might not have felt that way. The live greeter scene you describe..ughh! Seems to me a store that makes a habit of regularly pushing that particular envelope is asking for trouble–and deserves to get it.
I’m wondering what the freelance writer’s version of low-slung jeans and a nude upper half would be? Hmmmm… maybe if we offered too many freebies? Did a few editing jobs “under the table”?
🙂