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Bugs, the problem isn't that that sexually suggestive styles are popular, it is that they are being sold for so young an age.
the second time in two months, retailer Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. finds itself in trouble for the kind of clothing it sells, this time for hawking sexually suggestive thong underwear to young girls.
The thongs are adorned with the images of cherries and candy hearts and also include the words "kiss me" and "wink, wink." They are appropriate for girls as young as 10 years old, according to a company spokesman.
"It's not appropriate for a 7 year old, but it is appropriate for a 10 year old," said spokesman Hampton Carney. "Once you get about 10, you start to care about your underwear, and you start to care about your clothes."
Conservative family groups are outraged. They have launched another boycott against Abercrombie, an action that has been taken in the past to protest the retailer's catalogs featuring nudity and sexual language.
The company stirred up controversy last month when it introduced a new line of T-shirts depicting stereotypical images of Asians, prompting protests and boycotts from many in the Asian American community.
The company immediately pulled the shirts from its store shelves, while embarrassed officials said they thought Asians would like the T-shirts.
The thong underwear disappeared from Abercrombie's Web site recently, but company officials would not confirm that they were pulled due to complaints.
A sales clerk at the downtown San Francisco store said the controversial thongs had never been sold at the store.
An Abercrombie spokesman said today that the girl's clothing line targets ages 7 through 14 and that the thongs were made in sizes medium, large and extra large, but not small and extra small.
Company officials would not comment about the boycott and issued a statement saying: "The underwear for young girls was created with the intent to be lighthearted and cute. Any misrepresentation of that is purely in the eye of the beholder."
Bill Johnson, president of the 2-year-old American Decency Association, based in Michigan, called the thongs pornographic and said the company has sunk to new lows.
"The size of the underapparel is really small enough for 7-year-olds to easily wear," Johnson said. "What (Abercrombie is) doing is sexualizing our youth and setting them up to view themselves as sexual objects or sexual toys."
Johnson said his organization had hoped that Abercrombie was moving away from controversy by toning down its sexually suggestive catalogs. But when he saw the images of the girls' thongs, he launched another boycott.
"We stand amazed," Johnson said. "They have great sensitivity about a racial discrimination issue but there have been thousands of people who have weighed in on what Abercrombie & Fitch is doing relative to marketing pornography, but they don't respond to those concerns."
The American Family Association is also calling for a boycott of the company because of the thongs.
Steven Addis, chief executive of the Addis Group, a Berkeley brand-strategy and design firm, said Abercrombie owes its success over the past several years largely to controversy over its clothing lines and catalogs. He said the thong controversy is the latest attempt to cash in.
"It's really lower common denominator stuff when you have to resort to this kind of surreptitious type of product to get people in the store," Addis said. "Bringing this down to children's sizes is totally inappropriate."
Despite his objections to the marketing attempt, Addis said the company will probably get what it wants out of the controversy.
"Cherries on a thong -- that's just being naughty and trying to differentiate their brand around what's taboo and is going to get them exactly what they want," Addis said.
"They're trying to sustain a campaign where they welcome the backlash. As kids are witnessing the backlash, they're going to run to the stores and empty the shelves."
The thongs are adorned with the images of cherries and candy hearts and also include the words "kiss me" and "wink, wink." They are appropriate for girls as young as 10 years old, according to a company spokesman.
"It's not appropriate for a 7 year old, but it is appropriate for a 10 year old," said spokesman Hampton Carney. "Once you get about 10, you start to care about your underwear, and you start to care about your clothes."
Conservative family groups are outraged. They have launched another boycott against Abercrombie, an action that has been taken in the past to protest the retailer's catalogs featuring nudity and sexual language.
The company stirred up controversy last month when it introduced a new line of T-shirts depicting stereotypical images of Asians, prompting protests and boycotts from many in the Asian American community.
The company immediately pulled the shirts from its store shelves, while embarrassed officials said they thought Asians would like the T-shirts.
The thong underwear disappeared from Abercrombie's Web site recently, but company officials would not confirm that they were pulled due to complaints.
A sales clerk at the downtown San Francisco store said the controversial thongs had never been sold at the store.
An Abercrombie spokesman said today that the girl's clothing line targets ages 7 through 14 and that the thongs were made in sizes medium, large and extra large, but not small and extra small.
Company officials would not comment about the boycott and issued a statement saying: "The underwear for young girls was created with the intent to be lighthearted and cute. Any misrepresentation of that is purely in the eye of the beholder."
Bill Johnson, president of the 2-year-old American Decency Association, based in Michigan, called the thongs pornographic and said the company has sunk to new lows.
"The size of the underapparel is really small enough for 7-year-olds to easily wear," Johnson said. "What (Abercrombie is) doing is sexualizing our youth and setting them up to view themselves as sexual objects or sexual toys."
Johnson said his organization had hoped that Abercrombie was moving away from controversy by toning down its sexually suggestive catalogs. But when he saw the images of the girls' thongs, he launched another boycott.
"We stand amazed," Johnson said. "They have great sensitivity about a racial discrimination issue but there have been thousands of people who have weighed in on what Abercrombie & Fitch is doing relative to marketing pornography, but they don't respond to those concerns."
The American Family Association is also calling for a boycott of the company because of the thongs.
Steven Addis, chief executive of the Addis Group, a Berkeley brand-strategy and design firm, said Abercrombie owes its success over the past several years largely to controversy over its clothing lines and catalogs. He said the thong controversy is the latest attempt to cash in.
"It's really lower common denominator stuff when you have to resort to this kind of surreptitious type of product to get people in the store," Addis said. "Bringing this down to children's sizes is totally inappropriate."
Despite his objections to the marketing attempt, Addis said the company will probably get what it wants out of the controversy.
"Cherries on a thong -- that's just being naughty and trying to differentiate their brand around what's taboo and is going to get them exactly what they want," Addis said.
"They're trying to sustain a campaign where they welcome the backlash. As kids are witnessing the backlash, they're going to run to the stores and empty the shelves."
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