(1) Why should larger people be able to wear Abercrombie clothes
Abercrombie & Fitch is adamant about not selling to larger women and its stuck to its guns despite the outrage this decision has caused. In fact, size 10 is the biggest pants size women are able to buy.
Taking the attitude of CEO Mike Jeffries into account, Robin Lewis, co-author of The New Rules of Retail,” claimed the brand’s exclusion of plus-sized women comes as no surprise. In 2006, Jeffries claimed the brand was built around sex appealAnd his opinion has yet to change.
“We dont market to anyone other than the good-looking kind,” he said. “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people dont belong in our clothes, and they can’t belong.”
Lewis further added that the store didn’t only seek to attract “the beautiful” but the thin as well, which has had an impact on its hiring policy. “He doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t hot wearing his clothing,” Lewis said. “People who wear his clothing should feel like they’re one of the ‘cool kids’.”
This comes at a time when brands have started featuring “real-sized” models. Take, for example, Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign highlighting women who aren’t as thin as traditional models.
What has also posed controversy is the fact that only women aren’t allowed to wear large XL and XXL size options are offered to men. Lewis did suggest, however, that this was due to it trying to appeal to beefy football players and wrestlers .
(2) Obama black has become one retailers colour of choice and its apologetic explanation was meh
Urban Outfitters is no stranger to controversial shirts. There was an eat less shirt which encouraged customers to consume fewer calories people dubbed it the anorexia-encouraging shirt. And who can forget when it tried to sell what it called a Kent State sweatshirt.
While that in itself isnt controversial, it’s the fact that it appeared to be splattered with blood stains. Factor in the fact that in 1970 the National Guard killed four Kent State college students and injured another ten then you start to see a different picture.
What kicked up a lot of fuss as well was a certain colour the company decided to stock shirts in and the explanation that came after the faux-pas was revealed. In 2010, when Jezebel editor Anna North was looking through Urban Outfitters’ online catalog, she noticed that one of the shirts for sale was being marketed under two colour combinations: “White/Charcoal” and “Obama/Black.” Yes,really.
Barack Obama’s UK visit brings about government statement on TTIP
Urban Outfitters said it “screwed up”, saying: “Many customers have brought to our attention one of thecolour nameslisted for our BDG Burnout Henley, and rightfully so. We screwed up, and are sincerely sorry. The burnout pattern on this shirt is comprised of two colours one is an internally developed colour we called ‘Obama Blue’ and the other is ‘Black.’ Unfortunately our website database truncated this combination to read ‘Obama/Black.’ We should have caught the error, and apologise for offending anyone.
“Fine, Urban Outfitters: You’re not racist, just careless,”saidUniversity Chic. But given your history and penchant for making controversial political statements, Chis said, “you can’t blame anyone for assuming” the worst.
Did you know Harrods removed the Queen’s royal warrant from its wall and had it burnt Find out why.
By Shan Schutte
(3) The time when Mohammad Al Fayed burnt the royal family crests
Back in 2000, Harrods owned by Mohammad Al Fayed at the time took down the Queens royal warrant, as well as the crests of the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen Mother and the Prince of Wales, on what is arguably the stores most controversial decision. But theres more to the story than just that.
He took them to his family estate and had them burnt. This was all captured in a documentary on Princess Dianas death, in which Al Fayed alleged the Duke of Edinburgh was a Nazi.
Al Fayed was caught in the documentary saying: I am destroying these royal crests as a tribute to my son Dodi. There was a clear verdict of unlawful killing, so why has nobody been arrested What is at the core of all this is racism.
Powerful people in this country my country dont want to hear me talking about Prince Philips Nazi background, but I have to, because it is 100 per cent true. They wouldnt accept me or my son, and when he fell in love with Diana, they murdered him.
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The documentary, which was funded by Al Fayed himself, provoked further outrage for showing a close-up photograph of Princess Diana just moments after her crash in Paris. In one scene the Queen was also labelled a “gangster in a tiara,” while Prince Philip was described as a “Fred West-style psychopath”.
Its a clear example of how a business leader has an infinitely great impact on brand reputation.
(4) The too high to fly shorts making a splash on the internet
When trying to board a JetBlue flight, Maggie McMuffinfound out that the flight crew reserved the right to have people dress into other clothes when it was deemed offensive .
“The gate lead spoke to me on behalf of the flight crew andpilot,”she explained. “I was approached a few minutes before boarding and it made me surprised, then angry and embarrassed when I was asked to change my clothes.”
She offered to tie her sweater around her waist, but the suggestion was rejected. So complying on the quick to avoid missing her flight, McMuffin rushed to purchase a pair of floral shorts at a store inside the airport.
@fuckityfuckity Yes. I was told to rebook or find something else so I bought and put on these. pic.twitter.com/RgdIkjApTD
” Maggie McMuffin (@MaggieMcMuff) May 30, 2016
While it is true the flight crew often makes difficult decisions when it comes to passengers, George Hobica, founder and president of TripAdvisor subsidiary Airfarewatchdog.com claimed JetBlue is now eating aslice of humble pie. Ive seen guys with very skimpy gym shorts on planes the kinds marathoners run in and theyve not been asked to cover up,” so I would say this is just prudery or sexism on the part of the Jetblue crew. The fact that JetBlue is apologising, compensating and trying to make this go away suggests that corporate is embarrassed by the whole thing.
McMuffin added that JetBlue is sending a messagethat women’s bodies are open to subjective policing on behalf of individual employees. “What they did also says thatif someone is deemed wrong by a single employee, it makes them less than a customer and less than a person,” she said.
