Abercrombie & Fitch And Racism
by Anonymous, 2011
In recent years, Abercrombie and Fitch has become one of the most popular and successful casual or suburban clothing lines and companies in America for the past few decades. The patent moose logo is known worldwide, and is worn all around the globe, in the different styles and fashions that the company has produced over the years. This American retail outlet began in 1892 in New York, and was founded by David T. Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch and has survived over 100 years later and has still managed to remain relevant in society today. In addition, the company also operates three offshoot brands selling similar clothing products in Hollister, Gilly Hicks and Abercrombie (children’s wear).
However, it has not been all success and wealth for the company Abercrombie and Fitch. In an article in 2002, Mary Andom of the Seattle times describes the luxury clothing line company’s image as being “just plain racist”. Andom states that the company promotes a look of sub-urban people of the Caucasian race (2004). It is quite easy for one to assume this, as the typical layout of any Abercrombie and Fitch retail outlet consists of posters and billboards that display some of the most handsome male Caucasian jocks and beautiful Caucasian women relaxing and enjoying the suburban lifestyle. Even the shopping bags of Abercrombie and its offshoot companies sometimes display the torsos of muscular Caucasian males. With such strong marketing of what is seen as beauty in the eyes of the company’s marketing director, and the absence of any other race, one can see why the average consumer would come to the conclusion that Abercrombie and Fitch believes primarily in Caucasian beauty.
A typical Abercrombie and Fitch Promotional Graphic.
Previous to the publishing of the article in 2002 Abercrombie and Fitch went through a series of controversial issues, each dealing with racial and ethnic discrimination. In 2002, the company designed a graphic tee featured the slogan "Wong Brothers Laundry Service—Two Wongs Can Make It White" with smiling figures in conical Asian hats, a depiction of early Chinese immigrants. This created riots and protests against the company, as many people even people who were not of Chinese ethnicity were offended by this design. As a result of the numerous protests and a boycott started by Asian American students at Stanford University, the company ended up pulling the product and discontinuing its production.
The Controversial Wong Brother’s Graphic Tee
After this “Wong Brothers” controversy, Abercrombie was involved in three different lawsuits in California, New Jersey and Ohio all regarding the same allegations – the clothier had racist hiring practices (McCollough 2003). Abercrombie was sued by “Gonzalez, et al” in 2004 for “racist recruiting and employment practices”. Gonzalez accused Abercrombie of only hiring Caucasian males of a certain look to be models or floor workers in the stores nationwide, thus promoting a restrictive look and violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The certain restrictive look that was described was tall, muscular or slim and handsome. Gonzalez also complained that the company gave jobs in the back, also called the position of Impactor, to African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and other minorities. The result of this law suit was a class action, where the company was required to pay a few fees to some African Americans, Asians and Latinos. After these series of lawsuits, the racist stereotype began to follow the company, wherever it set up business.
In addition to the fees, the firm was required to implement a few new provisions based on the “Ongoing Consent Decree” to promote diversity within the company. One of these new provisions was benchmark goals for the promotion and hiring of women, Latinos, African Americans and Asian Americans. Reports were to be made about each store regarding these benchmark goals at regular intervals within the year. In addition to these benchmark goals, an Office of Diversity and a Vice President of Diversity was established. This Office of Diversity was responsible for all issues regarding diversity, and the hiring of 25 recruiters, who would focus on hiring minorities and the introduction of the Equal Employee Opportunity Program and diversity training for these recruiters, or managers or anyone that may bear the privilege of hiring someone to work for the business. With these serious steps in place, Abercrombie and Fitch began the road to becoming a more diverse company.
Nowadays, if you walk into an Abercrombie and Fitch store or a Hollister store, I can almost guarantee you that you will absolutely see no signs of the claims made in the lawsuit against Abercrombie by Gonzalez. The model positions are held by persons of all ethnic groups, ranging from Asian Americans to Indians.
According to the “Abercrombie and Fitch Cares” website, in 2010, Abercrombie and Fitch extended its Execute Diversity Council in the Office of Diversity, to form a Stores Diversity Council, made up of district managers and recruiters to assist the associates with the enforcing of the diversity efforts. In addition to that, the Distribution Center’s Diversity Council was launched. The efforts and establishments of all of these firms have contributed to the expected result – Abercrombie and Fitch is now one of the most diverse companies in the United States of America.
In a recent online article, Todd Corley, Senior Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion at Abercrombie and Fitch said that an organization with a strong diversity brand can prove that it is committed to diversity and inclusion by way of its actions. It is hard not to agree with Mr.Corley and question their commitment after the establishment of all these different councils and boards for one sole purpose – diversity.
“When you are challenged by somebody on the outside looking in or people internally wondering what you’re all about, you can point to ‘Here are the things we’ve done in this space of time.’ Your diversity brand is tied essentially to what you have done,” said the Vice President.
Although the products are still marketed in basically the same way, it is rather difficult now to refer to Abercrombie and Fitch as “bland and one dimensional” as it was before just by looking at its employees and associates. In some campaigns, one may even spot a few minorities as models in the advertisements. Also, in some stores even majority of the managers belong to a minority ethnic group. With major changes to the recruiting system, now persons are hired based on their skills and qualification, and now sometimes being a minority gives persons a better opportunity of being hired due to the benchmark quotas set by the company. Ironic right?
With regards to how recruiting is done now, the researcher discovered that one of the most important questions asked during the interview is one asking the workers the definition and importance of diversity. This gives Abercrombie the upper hand in hiring workers who have already been exposed to diversity, and understand the necessity of diversity when operating a business. This also helps to show the commitment that Abercrombie has made into hiring a more diverse work force to carry out the company image.
In a recent study, the researcher paid a visit to the Abercrombie retail outlets of Aventura Mall; a mall which contained all four brands. Upon entrance into the Abercrombie kids store, the researcher was greeted politely by an attractive girl of the Asian American descent. As the researcher observed the store, persons of all the possible ethnicities were seen, either as customers, associates or managers. African Americans, Asian Americans, Indians, Caucasians and Latinos were all present in the work force, with some of them even being managers at this specific retail outlet.
In addition, the researcher was able to interview two impactors at the kids retail outlet. Both impactors have been employed for a long period of time, one being employed for approximately 19 months and one being employed for over 20 months. According to the managers, they were two of the most tenured and experienced impactors that were currently employed.
When both employees were asked if they had knowledge about Abercrombie’s racist stereotype prior to being hired, one employee stated that he had absolutely no knowledge of the lawsuits and controversies that the company had been through. He even went forward to saying that some of his friends had told him that he was not going to be hired, simply because he was African American descent. The other employee said that he knew about the company’s history, and he was even surprised that he was recruited. “Honestly, before I was hired, I held the same views as many, when it came to Abercrombie and their ethnic and racial controversy. I was actually surprised when I was recruited for a position there because of these views,” he said while being interviewed.
Following that question, a second question was posed to the employees asking them their opinion on the benchmark quotas, and if they think that the benchmark is the only reason why Abercrombie and Fitch is one of the most diverse companies. Both employees generally gave the same answer, indicating that their store in specific hires persons based on their skill and qualifications and not by their ethnicity. “I would not say that that is the only reason why all of their stores across the world hire associates of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, but it is definitely a contributing factor,” the employee said as he further elaborated on the topic.
The third question of the interview asked the employees if all the councils and boards of diversity are working in their specific Abercrombie kids store and their opinion of the store’s diversity. Both employees agreed again, saying that their co-workers and managers ranged from being “Haitian to Russian to Columbian to African to Jewish to Jamaican and every ethnicity and nationality in between.” One employee also said that being in Miami, the store is probably even more diverse than others as Miami in general “screams diversity”, due to the backgrounds of all its residents. “As for the customers people from all over the world come to shop at our store. Most of them don't even speak English,” the 19 month hired veteran stated.
The final question of the interview asked the employees if in their opinion, if the store is still seen as racist in the eyes of the public. Sadly, both employees agreed and said that in their opinion it is still seen as being racist. One employee said that his friends are still surprised that he works there, and he describes the clothing that the associates and customers wear as “White Man’s Clothing”, probably due to the way it is marketed. The other employee said that in his opinion, the stereotype has lessened to a degree and less people think of it as being a racist company as before.
You never get a second chance at a first impression-this has become the fate of the Abercrombie and Fitch Company in the eyes of the public. The effort of pursuing diversity and shedding this racist stereotype can definitely be seen, with an associate listing of persons of ethnicities and races from all parts of the world. This diversity mission has become so important in the expansion and spreading out of the brand that the question of importance in diversity is even asked during employees interviews now, to make sure that all persons hired have an idea of idea of the importance of diversity in a business. It is sad to say after all the efforts of establishing new councils and committees, that the company has not completely shed its racist stereotype completely. However, as time goes on, more and people are learning about the company’s changes, thus lessening the decree of the stereotype bit by bit. Eventually, people may even soon forget about the controversies that clouded the bright horizon of this prosperous company. With that being said, continuation and commitment to their diversity goals will lead Abercrombie away from this stereotype, and more towards one of its main goals today – diversity.
Following that question, a second question was posed to the employees asking them their opinion on the benchmark quotas, and if they think that the benchmark is the only reason why Abercrombie and Fitch is one of the most diverse companies. Both employees generally gave the same answer, indicating that their store in specific hires persons based on their skill and qualifications and not by their ethnicity. “I would not say that that is the only reason why all of their stores across the world hire associates of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, but it is definitely a contributing factor,” the employee said as he further elaborated on the topic.
The third question of the interview asked the employees if all the councils and boards of diversity are working in their specific Abercrombie kids store and their opinion of the store’s diversity. Both employees agreed again, saying that their co-workers and managers ranged from being “Haitian to Russian to Columbian to African to Jewish to Jamaican and every ethnicity and nationality in between.” One employee also said that being in Miami, the store is probably even more diverse than others as Miami in general “screams diversity”, due to the backgrounds of all its residents. “As for the customers people from all over the world come to shop at our store. Most of them don't even speak English,” the 19 month hired veteran stated.
The final question of the interview asked the employees if in their opinion, if the store is still seen as racist in the eyes of the public. Sadly, both employees agreed and said that in their opinion it is still seen as being racist. One employee said that his friends are still surprised that he works there, and he describes the clothing that the associates and customers wear as “White Man’s Clothing”, probably due to the way it is marketed. The other employee said that in his opinion, the stereotype has lessened to a degree and less people think of it as being a racist company as before.
You never get a second chance at a first impression-this has become the fate of the Abercrombie and Fitch Company in the eyes of the public. The effort of pursuing diversity and shedding this racist stereotype can definitely be seen, with an associate listing of persons of ethnicities and races from all parts of the world. This diversity mission has become so important in the expansion and spreading out of the brand that the question of importance in diversity is even asked during employees interviews now, to make sure that all persons hired have an idea of idea of the importance of diversity in a business. It is sad to say after all the efforts of establishing new councils and committees, that the company has not completely shed its racist stereotype completely. However, as time goes on, more and people are learning about the company’s changes, thus lessening the decree of the stereotype bit by bit. Eventually, people may even soon forget about the controversies that clouded the bright horizon of this prosperous company. With that being said, continuation and commitment to their diversity goals will lead Abercrombie away from this stereotype, and more towards one of its main goals today – diversity.
References
- Abercrombie & Fitch. Abercrombie & Fitch Announces Receipt of Lawsuit. Nancy Berg, 8 Feb. 2005. Web. 21 Oct. 2011. <http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=61701&p=irol-newsArticle_print&ID=672041&highlight=>.
- "Diversity and Inclusion." A&F Cares. Abercrombie & Fitch. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. <https://afcares.anfcorp.com/anf/intranet/site/afcares/home>.
- Mary Andom.“Abercrombie & Fitch image 'just plain racist'”. The Seattle Times. Web. 21 Oct. 2011 <http://www.easttennessean.com/abercrombie-&-fitch-image-just-plain-racist.1343294
- McCullough, Kevin. "Is Abercrombie & Fitch Racist?" WND. 28 Nov. 2003. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. <http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=22037>.
- Personal Interview, “Jamal Jeffries,” 10/22/11
- Personal Interview, “Scotty Baptiste,” 10/22/11
