Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Unattractive young Dallasites come to grips with Abercrombie & Fitch’s judgmental hiring practices
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Abercrumby & Fitch hit pay dirt with this particular expose, gaining not only a story in a daily newspaper but also prominent placement on a hip young online news site named Pegasus News.
Does Abercrombie & Fitch discriminate against less-than-perfect-looking employees? Duh. It's another laughable expose from the DMN, who I sure hope got a full-page A&F ad in F!D Luxe for their trouble. These cruel hiring policies are prevalent not just everywhere but also here in Dallas, OMG. One girl wasn't model-esque so they stuck her in the back room stocking clothes. One employee who was a MALE had blond highlights, cluck cluck, and A&F banished him from the workplace. The DMN has a money quote: "It's a hierarchy of hotness" -- and they know enough to put that in their headline too. But anyway, back to the indignity: Why oh why can't all kinds of people, even ugly trolls, be allowed to work at A&F?
Posted by T.G.
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Comments
Pavel Lishin Verified
It's a sad day when even Hooters is beating you on the discrimination policy front.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
chretienne Anonymous
Back when I lived in The Village apartment community (in 3 of their complexes at various times), I strongly suspected that the leasing consultants were hired based solely on looks. Occasionally, I would encounter one who was smart as well as beautiful, and it would be a pleasant surprise.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
viva_la_malcriada Anonymous
Who the hell shops at Abercrombie & Fitch anyway, except for clueless Millennials and anorexic girls with no breasts? Puh-leeze.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
snowboard9 Anonymous
That youtube is awesome! LOL.
I guess if A&F wants to project an image, there would be discrimination practices. However, they probably might consider that their brand is strong enough such that 'average' looks is OK for their employee base.
I must admit their models are easy on the eyes, though!
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Clay213 Anonymous
"The job is "a cattle call and you are hired based on looks, not your ability to fold clothes"
Talk about priorities!
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Seanchai520 Anonymous
Is it really wrong for a company to not hire ugly people? It would be nice if they would add stupid people to their list of folks that are ineligible for hire. Then, maybe we can work towards banning the stupid AND ugly people from breeding. The world would be a much prettier place if there were no ugly and stupid wastes of space to trip over. However, I would have to find another group of people to ridicule and use for my source of amusement. At least I would still have the anorexics, obese, and supremely cool to poke fun at.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
Seanchai, I'd be right there with you, if not for the paralyzing fear that I wouldn't make the cut. :(
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
The thought balloon from that guy in the Hooter's shot must read something like:
"Whoa, buzzkill. That's even a total buzz abortion. Are you kidding me?"
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
David Gouldin Staff
I didn't realize it was eugenics Wednesday.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
ch0 Anonymous
EVERY day is Eugenics Wednesday! My momma would be proud!
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
If Dallas itself was living up to the marketing materials, there wouldn't be any less-than-beautiful Dallasites to even apply.
We must accept that we have failed them.
(after all, it is insecurity that fuels the fashion industry)
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Seanchai520 Anonymous
Am I to take it that y’all are not proponents of selective breeding, prenatal testing and screening, genetic counseling, birth control, forced sterilization, in vitro fertilization, and genetic engineering? Is eugenics really wrong? Is self-direction of human evolution a bad thing? Just think of all of the bottom feeders we could keep from spawning in Highland Park. The terrorist, Sir Mark Thatcher, and his crumb snatchers would have to be the first forced sterilization candidates.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
AnnMarie Wilson Verified
Okay, sounding like the Northern I was - I have never been as exposed to a society as obsessed with fake looks over brains as we have in Dallas.
From little girl beauty pageants sending that wonderful message that looks are all that matters - just starve yourself and get a boob job, don't worry about using your brain cells - to botox parties. (What were you thinking! That's a purified botulin neurotoxin.)
I'm clenching my jaws so hard right now, I'm going to break some teeth at this rate.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Seanchai520 Anonymous
If you break your teeth, you definitely wont be Abercrombie & Fitch material -- unless you're at an Abercrombie & Fitch in Duncanville or Seagoville where being toothless is par for the course.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Alex Bentley Staff
AnnMarie, you've obviously never lived in Miami.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
Or L.A.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Rick Yost Verified
Okay, yeah, it's certainly less than moral.
But c'mon, this is America. I wouldn't get hired either.
No one accuses ad agencies of 'aesthetic discrimination' when they hire only beautiful men and women to push products for their clients.
If you have a product or business and want to market it to the public, selecting a less than attractive face to do it, will make your marketing just that- less than attractive to your target customers.
Is A&F the only place that the less than attractive can apply for work?
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
ch0 Anonymous
Hey Rick! Y'all hirin'?
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
Actually a buddy of mine (name withheld to protect the innocent) was recently sent on a print shoot. Here he is surrounded by 6 foot tall beauties and hunks. They even "upgrade" his "wife" for the shots when a slightly younger extra was spotted. So he starts thinking to himself, "Well maybe I'm not as far gone as I thought. They seem to like me as much as all these lovelies!"
Sadly, he quipped that to a photographer who smiled wryly and settled it with "You look like the middle-aged businessman we're selling this stuff to."
So yes, you can be with the beautiful people even if you're average - but you're the contrast.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
Nobody ever wakes up in Dallas and thinks they've fallen asleep in Miami.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
Where's Doyle? I bet he does.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Rick Yost Verified
cho- Sure! Just make sure to send your pic with your resume.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
AnnMarie Wilson Verified
I know this topic has taken on a lighter note, but seriously, what does this say about us as a society?
Nothing particularly appealing...
I'll take average (what ever that is) and brains over fake-looks any day.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
luniz Anonymous
it doesn't say anything AnnMarie. It's A&F not frickin NASA. The product is an image. The job is to project an image. If you don't project the image as well as the next employee, work in the back. What's the big deal? If that's how they hired their execs, then I'd agree they were doing something wrong.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Lisa Lawrence Merritt Verified
Don't like it then don't shop there. A&F is probably hurting just like all other retail right now.
Screw 'em.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Donna Chen Verified
AnneMarie, you might be interested in checking out this film(http://www.americathebeautifuldoc.com/)
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
AnnMarie Wilson Verified
Luniz - you really don't get the whole thing do you?
The problem IS IMAGE! And we wonder why we're not taken seriously by the rest of the world anymore... NOT!
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
AnnMarie Wilson Verified
Thanks Donna - I've heard about this! Going to pass it along....
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
snowboard9 Anonymous
Seems the topic has migrated to whether A&F is an appropriate American icon for the world to see. Let's be clear, A&F is a for profit business (and done pretty well).
I suppose if their hiring policy or racy advertisements is illegal, they will be penalized by authorities. If their actions are "offensive" to your arbitrary moral standards, there's always Lane Bryant or Sears!
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
luniz Anonymous
nope I guess I don't get it. If you don't like this image, don't buy this product. Pretty simple to me. Products all over the world are associated with an image. The reason "we're not taken seriously by the rest of the world" has nothing to do with A&F and everything to do with the historically, incredibly, criminally bad job of governing that our government has done for the past 8 or so years. Every country/culture has it's own idea of "beauty" that it deems admirable, it's hardly a concept owned by the US.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
I miss the Fruit of the Loom Guys.
The Apple guy was kinda pudgy but pleasant. They didn't try to over glamorize the fact that they just existed to kept you from itching against the myriad seams that are unavoidable in that complex geometry.
I mean really, if you insist on "content" from a mall retailer but not our leadership .... well.... I vote Fruit of the Loom.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Some people simply need a scapegoat, luniz. I'm not sure why you're wasting keystrokes on it.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
Speaking of scapegoats!!! Scott, you're back!
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Never left, simply busy.
Amazing how my level of PN presence is directly correlated to hangovers. =p
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
AnnMarie Wilson Verified
Hmmm domino theory? Our behavior - on all levels - reflects on us. Amazing huh?
Act like a moron over one incident and people can't help but wonder the next thing you're going to be stupid about.
That creates 'comments' and questioning that then moves into your work/career.
Everything effects everything else. Be it right or not, it does - and we have to pay the consequences.
Do I shop at these places we're discussing? Of course not. Horribly over-priced merchandise made by people earning slave wages in another country. And people here flock to buy it. Why? Marketing. Preying on folks insecurities and the classic if-only-I-had-this-my-life-would-be-perfect desperation. If you don't have/own/wear it you are one of the 'privileged' people.
It's interesting watching the country self-implode.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
luniz Anonymous
i can't even parse that. hopefully i'm not missing out on any important information about roswell in your comment.
what's most amusing is that i've never once bought anything from a&f...the only time i ever went in one, was to see what it would be like. it's certainly nothing compared to shopping at hollister!
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Naturally, it's someone else's fault these people are shallow & materialistic...not their own.
George Bush surely had a hand in this somewhere along the line. Of course, that pesky unicorn stabbing people with its horn didn't help matters. Let's not forget the purple elephants stampeding our self-pride.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Rick Yost Verified
AnnMarie- "Act like a moron over one incident and people can't help but wonder the next thing you're going to be stupid about." -I know just what you mean. I'll be glad to see G.W. leave too. :-)
I agree with your assessment of the state of society. I've been trying to make those around me aware of the shallow hypocrisy and foolishness of this life for years. I'm tired.
However, in slight defense of your and my fellow idiots who live here in this theme park country, nature itself does select the finest results to continue.
In the still-ancient part of our psyches we will always gravitate toward the best, strongest, and most attractive choices. Not just because we're bereft of morals, but because in our reptilian minds it says "this is good". Now if we could just make the I.Q. equivalent to the beauty, we'd be...we'd be...the master race. Whoops!
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
Rick,
Is IQ really that much better? I mean, lab rats didn't invent internal combustion and geese are pretty low on the global warming blame chain. If it was all about looks, not survivability due to resource adaptation there'd be a lot more arable land. But then who'd cultivate it?
We're doomed.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
AnnMarie Wilson Verified
Healthy balance Jason - and unfortunately that's not the way we're leaning here.
Scan a paper (notice I didn't even bother calling is a newspaper anymore) what will you find...
Rick, I don't think I was even thinking morals, just shallowness and superficiality (or is that redundant).
Anyway, I'm going to take my smug, snooty self and get a nice bottle of local wine for watching that historic nomination tonight. Golly someone with.... Brains!
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
Smart enough to be rich.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Rick Yost Verified
AnnMarie- We'll have the nomination on the big screen at Pearl. Come on down. :-)
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
AnnMarie Wilson Verified
Thanks for the invite Rick - but I've got to work until then... last minute changes for some clients that have to get done tonight.
But - I'll look forward to the actual swearing in ceremony in January, and joining you there!
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
Well, at least you can all be cognizant about your motives the next time you smear yourself over something beautiful.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Rick Yost Verified
Damn, DC, that sounds nasty...I like it! You're making me want to hurry and close the club so I can go home to my wife. Thanks.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
Well, you've got a black guy running for president of the US, so maybe it's time to start trying all the other weird stuff you never thought you'd see in your lifetime.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Clay213 Anonymous
Considering how many lard ass fat Americans there are, AnnMarie Wilson's Illuminati marketing team is doing a terrible job, and should be sacked.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
ChristiRich Anonymous
Ah well. In ten or so years, Abercrombie & Fitch's ugly executives will be out of business, seeking shelter from their creditors. Their retail concept is a flash in the pan. What do they pay their clerks, anyway; $7.00 an hour? That'll pay for their plastic surgery when they hit 40-years old.
3 months, 1 week ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
pnewsgal Anonymous
Beauty is in the eye of the "share-holder"
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Well played, pnewsgal.
3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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