http://elitedaily.com/news/world/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-explains-why-he-hates-fat-chicks/
I've seen the article posted above a couple of times now on my Facebook news feed, all with expressions of outrage. To summarize, Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO says "he hates fat chicks" and that he does not want these people at his stores. They supposedly will devalue his brand if seen wearing the companies clothes; he only desires beautiful people. Of course this strikes one first off as a very poor business decision, as a significant portion of the American public is overweight and consequently are alienated from the store. Furthermore, all of A & F's competitors make clothing for larger women. Why they think this is a good move is beyond me, though they seem to have survived to this point.
A second interesting point is that the store still makes men for plus sized men. The CEO says he only does it to appease larger male athletes. So what about larger female athletes? Clearly their is a sexist double standard here. Finally, to finish it all of, the CEO himself is no looker. That's right, google Mike Jeffries and ask yourself if he'd be desired by the company if he wan't their CEO. Probably not. The hypocrisy here is astounding. And to top it all of, Jeffries said he doesn't care if he is criticized for his views. The company will continue in this fashion despite criticisms or protests.
So perhaps this is what is causing all these unhealthy images and media distortion of ideal body types. I always thought it was bigger than any one person, but maybe it is just a few maniacal people like Jeffries. Anyways, it's encouraging to see a few people outraged about this. This may be too much to hope for, but perhaps this will cause some people to not shop at Abercrombie & Fitch anymore? One would hope so. It seems the only way people can do away with Jeffries and A & F is to vote with their wallets.
I saw this on Facebook the other day as well! It's so frustrating. It's again just showing how men are the preferred gender and it's OK for them to be larger, but large women just aren't acceptable. Like you said, it makes no sense why he would publicly say this because, from a business standpoint, it seems as though it would make him lose business. On top of that, it's things like this that add to the stress that young girls and women already face when it comes to body image. As if seeing skinny models and actresses isn't doesn't create enough pressure for how we should look, now there's someone flat out saying that they refuse to make clothes for us to buy unless we are below a certain size? Disgusting.
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