Abercrombie: Thongs for kids

[CornMonkey]

http://money.cnn.com/2002/05/22/news/companies/abercrombie/index.htm


NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Abercrombie & Fitch, the retailer that has been criticized for sexually and racially provocative catalogs and designs, is under fire -- again.

Several consumer advocacy groups said they have sent e-mails to A&F to protest against the chain's latest offering of thong underwear in children's sizes with the words "eye candy" and "wink wink," printed on the front.

In the latest controversy, OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com, a nonprofit Christian group based in Tupelo, Miss., said they are calling for a boycott.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF: down $1.10 to $28.11, Research, Estimates), based in New Albany, Ohio, has constantly been the target of consumer complaint before.

Last year, the youth clothing retailer angered many consumer advocacy groups with its summer and Christmas catalogs of teenage-looking models looking sexually provocative in the nude.

And last month, the retailer pulled a line of Asian-themed T-shirts after Asian-American advocacy groups complained that they were a blatant example of racist stereotyping.

The T-shirts were carrying caricatures of slant-eyed Asians in conical hats along with slogans such as "Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make It White."

A&F said it is not their intention to offend anyone. "The underwear for young girls was created with the intent to be lighthearted and cute," the company said in a statement. "Any misrepresentation of that is purely in the eye of the beholder."

So far, the company said it has no plans to recall the underwear.

[brain]

Hmm... Will these become collector's items too?

[hapoo]

What the hell is wrong with this company?!

BTW, exacty what do they consider "kids"?

[Burzhui]

am i the only one who doesn't see a problem with thong underweare for kids??? it's not supposed to be sexy or anything, it's not like they are making g-string underwear.

[eSDee]

Originally posted by Burzhui
am i the only one who doesn't see a problem with thong underweare for kids??? it's not supposed to be sexy or anything, it's not like they are making g-string underwear.

Burz do you even know what a thong is?

[Kim]

Oh yeah, I can hear my daughter now...

<insert whiney voice here>"Mooom, I haaavvee a Weeedgie!"


:rolleyes: Great idea A&F:rolleyes:

[DoPeY5007]

http://money.cnn.com/2002/05/22/news/companies/abercrombie/af_thong.01.jpg




:rolleyes:




that is just wrong on so many levels

[Burzhui]

Originally posted by EsDeeLoco


Burz do you even know what a thong is?
yes i do :rolleyes:

i also know girls that just can't wear any other kind of underwear cause, and i quote, "it feels like a diper"

[Burzhui]

ooops never mind i just read the whole eye candy thing... that's wrong

[NuTs62]

Originally posted by hapoo
What the hell is wrong with this company?!

BTW, exacty what do they consider "kids"?


Originally posted by cpugeek04
mmmm, thongs


:rolleyes: 'nuf said :)

[mojo]

Originally posted by Burzhui
ooops never mind i just read the whole eye candy thing... that's wrong you just barely avoided the trout of doom

[mojo]

Originally posted by cpugeek04
or over 50 :2far: personally, i don't have a problem with the thong wearing by itself. people can wear what they want, at whatever age they want as far as i'm concerned. there could be legitimate reasons for it. and who cares if we think a 60 yr old is sexy in one? if they feel good in it, more power to them.

my problem would be with the whole "eye candy" thing...and how others might take this kinda thing. if a kid wears a thong for non-sexual reasons, fine. if some perv comes along and makes it a sexual thing, then :angry: for sure. it would be pretty difficult to convince me that "eye candy" or the "wink wink" thing is anything other than sexual...even by some stretch of the imagination or devil's advocate stuff or whatever. too much abuse can result too easily.

just say no, dammit :mad:

[Merlin]

Gosh, and when I was a kid all I had were my Superman Underroos.

[whitak24]

that's just sick. basically, abercrombie is trying to make younger and younger kids feel like sexual beings.

i don't have any problem with people feeling sexual, but when we're looking at a product targeted at pre-teens, that is just wrong.

on another note, it seems that AF is really about to get themselves in serious trouble. i mean, it's one thing to be cutting edge and every now and then offend someone.

but they seem to be making far too much of a pattern of doing something in OBVIOUSLY poor taste and then saying "well, it was just intended to be lighthearted". you can only do that so many times before people decide that either you're doing it on purpose or you are complete idiots.

[tweeteresa]

Originally posted by mojo
personally, i don't have a problem with the thong wearing by itself. people can wear what they want, at whatever age they want as far as i'm concerned. there could be legitimate reasons for it. and who cares if we think a 60 yr old is sexy in one? if they feel good in it, more power to them.

my problem would be with the whole "eye candy" thing...and how others might take this kinda thing. if a kid wears a thong for non-sexual reasons, fine. if some perv comes along and makes it a sexual thing, then :angry: for sure. it would be pretty difficult to convince me that "eye candy" or the "wink wink" thing is anything other than sexual...even by some stretch of the imagination or devil's advocate stuff or whatever. too much abuse can result too easily.

just say no, dammit :mad:

:stupid:

[Speedfreak]

You can never satisfy everyone. Maybe the particular wrtings on these thongs are rash considering the age that will wear them, but other than that.. no harm done.

[Burzhui]

Originally posted by mojo
you just barely avoided the trout of doom

yea i dunno it escaped me at first

[Merlin]

I have a question for the crowd. Then they say children's sizes exactly what ages are we talking about? I bring this up because if it is for like 10 year olds then who cares? Ten year olds don't buy their own underwear, mom buys it for them. I'm sure mom won't buy these for little Suzy and they will vanish from stores soon enough. If they are for like 15 year olds, well that is still pretty young but a lot less sleezy. Again, I don't know but I do think we are lacking a couple details in this public execution of ANF.

Note: I am not defending them. Simply saying we don't have complete information.

[Nija]

I know 15 yr old girls that wear thongs. Hell I knew a 13 yr old who wore them. This girl didn't like her underwear to show when she wore a skirt so she wore a thong. It's better than going underoo-less.

Thongs at any age are ok. The markings are for sexual predators. 'Nuff Said.

[Memo]

Originally posted by cpugeek04

:nono: if anyone under 14 is wearing a thong, its just disturbing. or over 50 :2far:


It's only disturbing if YOU find it sexy. Another thought..The article mentions "children" sizes. I am not sure if they just mean small sizes cause there ARE girls that are old that can fit into children sizes. Abercombie has two stores "Abercrombie and Fitch" and "abercrombie." At least that's how it is here. "abercrombie" (spelled all lowercase) is a store of a&f clothes only for children. If they sell these thongs only at the regular Abercrombie and Fitch, I dont' see a problem.

[kimchicowboy]

if i were a dad, i'd feel so weird to know that my daughter was wearing one of these. especially if she fits the "childrens" category. *shudder*

[ApltnHkyMutt]

What is so wrong with a child wearing a thong, is it not just underwear? why do people make such a big deal of this? A thong like a bra is just a piece of clothing that goes on under what you wear... so why would it matter what they wear or dont under there clothes. If a child is confortable in a thong more power to them. the only thing that i find is wrong with a thong on a child is those people who like to look at little girls in a sexual way.

[Windsor]

Originally posted by ApltnHkyMutt
What is so wrong with a child wearing a thong, is it not just underwear? why do people make such a big deal of this? A thong like a bra is just a piece of clothing that goes on under what you wear... so why would it matter what they wear or dont under there clothes. If a child is confortable in a thong more power to them. the only thing that i find is wrong with a thong on a child is those people who like to look at little girls in a sexual way.

I think the big deal is the writing on the thongs.

[ApltnHkyMutt]

Originally posted by Windsor


I think the big deal is the writing on the thongs.

Yeah but thats a+f, they put stupid stuff like this on all there clothes!

[sbp]

Abercrombie & Fitch keeps doing crap like this on purpose to get publicity.

[chrissy]

double post... sorry :)

[chrissy]

As a mom of a to be 8 year old (next week), I can say children's sizes are normally 4-6x and 8-16 (Jr and Misses start after size 16 back at size 1 and 2 respectively and run up through again). This would be girls ranging in age of 4 yrs to approx. 12ish. I can also say that as a parent, even if the words wasn't on them, I wouldn't let her wear them at 8 or even 10 (as mentioned above even for panty lines. A girl at this age should not be worried about panty lines).

I can see 15 or 16 yrs old wearing them. By then, they are concerned about fashion. And hopefully know that they don't have to be "sexy" (for the lack of a better word).

I really believe that everything, movies (and the such), clothiers and other things are wanting girls to "grow up" when it comes to fashion. It isn't right to see a 8 yr old in some of the clothes they make now a days (including the thongs). I think it brings a lot of peer pressure onto them way too young. (my side note about the whole thing :) )

[mojo]

anyone that doesn't see the problem with this should go out and buy one (it has to say either "wink, wink" or "eye candy" ) and present it to your neighbor's 8 yr old daughter as a gift "just for her". be sure to wrap it up all nice and pretty, to accentuate that you're being so thoughtful and such. i'm sure one of the parents would be happy to explain what the problem with it is.

[Speedfreak]

I think one thing that we are all forgetting is that is IS "unerwear". So, unless the girls purposely show it off, no one will know it is a thong.

[Merlin]

Originally posted by mojo
anyone that doesn't see the problem with this should go out and buy one (it has to say either "wink, wink" or "eye candy" ) and present it to your neighbor's 8 yr old daughter as a gift "just for her". be sure to wrap it up all nice and pretty, to accentuate that you're being so thoughtful and such. i'm sure one of the parents would be happy to explain what the problem with it is.

Real bad example here mojo. You'd get a black eye no matter what kind of underwear you by for you neighbor's kid.

I don't think eight year olds have too much disposable income. Eight year olds need mommy to make these purchases for them and as a result we get parental guidance entering into the picture. "Mommy says no, sweetie you can't have that." - problem solved. And if little Suzy is old enough to get there on her own and is making her own purchases than it is not really a problem.

[mojo]

Originally posted by Merlin
Real bad example here mojo. You'd get a black eye no matter what kind of underwear you by for you neighbor's kid.good point. i dunno if it's a "real bad" example tho :P...i mean, i didn't really expect peeps to go out and do this. i figured the example was enough to make the point :P

[molecularfire]

Wait... we weren't supposed to do that?







OH S@#T!!! :eek:

/me looks out the windows for angry neighbors. :shifty:

[mojo]

Originally posted by molecularfire
Wait... we weren't supposed to do that?







OH S@#T!!! :eek:

/me looks out the windows for angry neighbors. :shifty: :heh:

they might just be too freaked out to come by. they'd prolly just send the cops. if they're not too freaked out to come by, whatever happens will result in cops coming eventually, tho :eek:

[Merlin]

When they come make sure you've got your shirt on. I've watched enough episodes of "Cops" to know that it is always the guy with no shirt on that gets taken away.

[aglio412]

Originally posted by UT Memo



It's only disturbing if YOU find it sexy. Another thought..The article mentions "children" sizes. I am not sure if they just mean small sizes cause there ARE girls that are old that can fit into children sizes. Abercombie has two stores "Abercrombie and Fitch" and "abercrombie." At least that's how it is here. "abercrombie" (spelled all lowercase) is a store of a&f clothes only for children. If they sell these thongs only at the regular Abercrombie and Fitch, I dont' see a problem.

good point...my gf is a size 0-1...

and i think this girl:

http://www.theforumisdown.com/uploadfiles/050102/1111111.jpg

...errr, bad aglio...bad bad

[mojo]

well, it does say children's sizes. i mean, if they mean juniors' then maybe they should be more careful how they print stuff.

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by aglio412

good point...my gf is a size 0-1...

Yeah, mine is too, but I've never heard a woman say that she thinks thongs are comfortable. More like, "I need a crowbar to pry this thing out of my a$$!" :2far:






Originally posted by aglio412
...errr, bad aglio...bad bad

:nono: :heh:

[aglio412]

Originally posted by Ladogaboy


Yeah, mine is too, but I've never heard a woman say that she thinks thongs are comfortable. More like, "I need a crowbar to pry this thing out of my a$$!" :2far:


i guess to each is own...that's all my girl will wear