On Saturday police in Virginia Beach (VA) seized two promotional posters from an Abercrombie & Fitch store and have cited the manager of the store with an obscenity charge. "One [of the posters] shows a group of shirtless male models and one has his jeans low enough to show a part of his buttocks." "The other image is of a woman who is topless and whose 'breast is displayed with her hand covering just the nipple portion.'" Police spokesman Adam Bernstein: "An officer went and looked at them, and thought himself that they were pretty racy." The obscenity charge was issued under City Code Section 22.31 which makes it a crime to display "obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles." [more inside]
posted by ericb on Feb 4, 2008 - 71 comments

Improv Everywhere's latest mission: 111 men of all shapes and sizes shop shirtless at the Abercrombie & Fitch store on 5^th. Avenue. [more inside]
posted by ericb on Oct 18, 2007 - 55 comments

West Virginia: it's all relative: or is it? Looks like those hucksters of overpriced clothing at Abercrombie & Fitch have done it again. The spokesman for A & F claims to "love West Virginia". Oh well, it's not like they have much of a presence there anyway.
posted by calwatch on Mar 22, 2004 - 23 comments

Critics call Abercrombie & Fitch catalog soft porn. I can't comment on the catalog itself, since I haven't seen it; I just had to laugh out loud though when I read this sentence: "Boycott organizers contend the company... is wooing younger customers and using sex to popularize its image." Oh, the horror! Also striking was A&F's spin on it, calling it " the Norman Rockwell of 2001." Clearly, a divide in perceptions. Can anyone who has seen the offensive/inoffensive material in question explain why it is/isn't any different from the marketing practices of, oh, say, everyone else?
posted by topolino on Jun 22, 2001 - 23 comments

Apparently, the Lt. Governor of Illinois has WAY too much time on her hands.... Of course, rallying public support for a boycott of Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't really seem like what she was elected to do, but hey, never hurts to throw your title around when your teenagers are going ga-ga over half-naked muscle-boys, huh?
posted by m.polo on Jun 15, 2001 - 24 comments