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Letters
Monday, November 7, 2005 12:00 AM

Abercrombie acquiesces

The teen clothing manufacturer agrees to pull some offensive T-shirts in response to angry young females.

The letters thread is now closed.

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Monday, November 7, 2005 11:04 AM

the t-shirt said "Do I make you look fat?"

The actual shirt said "Do I make you look fat?" and that is very very different than "I make you look fat." You should correct that. The T-shirts are not all bad. I particularly like "You were never my boyfreind", but they don't have one for gay men. Of course they do this on purpose and once again they have used the media like a cheap pair of flip flops to make these shirts the hottest item at school this fall. Sales have at least quadrupled because of this 'controversy'. Did they pay the Girlcott girls? They should for all the free publicity this has generated.

Monday, November 7, 2005 11:18 AM

Or are we just humorless?

Yes, you are humorless... A&F laughs all the way to the bank, meanwhile, these bubble headed girlcotters probably had Gold Digger blasting through their Ipods. Once again, Traister proves that feminism is for the white, the uptight and, most of all, the humorless... Assuming that A&F did create "mean" shirts, so what? Even if the shirts "play on physical insecurities and body image dysmorphia and competitive cruelty in teenagers?" so what? Maybe you should girlcott Sex and The City - because not one of those babes had too much body fat, a drop of melanin, money problems or even a zit (except the one where Carrie had a zit, but...).

Monday, November 7, 2005 11:31 AM

NOT "I make you look fat"

The T-shirt ACTUALLY says "Do I make you look fat?" I've seen that misquoted in every story I've read about this tempest in a teapot, and it's very easy to check--just look on Abercrombie's website.

Personally, I bought the "I'm not with stupid anymore" t-shirt to wear to a function where, well, "stupid" happened to be. Pretty much everyone who saw it was amused (though I suppose stupid himself wasn't). BTW, I'm 39.

I really don't see what all the fuss is about. Spencer's sells more offensive t-shirts than the ones A&F have. Yeah, some I wouldn't wear myself, but jeez, people--you don't HAVE to buy them. The "girlcott" basically brought A&F some nice publicity--I wouldn't have known about or bought a (ridiculously overpriced) shirt without the "girlcott", since I rarely go to malls, let alone go into A&F--and left the impression, once again, that this country has no sense of humor, and no sense of proportion. I mean, please--don't we have ENOUGH to worry about?

Monday, November 7, 2005 12:02 PM

Cute.

2 out of 3 letters critizing the girls who started the boycott are men. Imagine that.

Monday, November 7, 2005 03:00 PM

Abercrombie always acquiesces

Didn't they also acquiesce over some t-shirts with an Asian charicature that many found offensive? This "stunt" is getting old ... That or they just have a band of idiots working for them.

Monday, November 7, 2005 03:07 PM

Imagine what? 3 letters think the whole thing was manufactured to sell T-shirts...

That makes a 75% correct rational thinking. 25% emotional and attacking -other- letters.

See, non-thinking feminist outrage just made a corporation millions and millions of dollars. This is about publicity. They did it before with a tshirt that said "Two Wongs Don't Make a White" basically a joke at the expense of Asians. This time they made it about boobs and blonds so as to assure wide free publicity thru endless news coverage.

I think it would be very cool for a very large woman to wear "Do I make you look fat?" as a statement. Bad taste can be turned into a revolutionary act. Let freedom ring.

Monday, November 7, 2005 07:19 PM

huh?

in a section named "broadsheet?"

yes, you are being humorless.

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