Local stuff that matters to you.

Did you know about State of the Arts at Dallas Museum of Art this Thursday?

News & events for

Sunday, November

57° F
Partly cloudy in DFW

Marketplace:

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Unattractive young Dallasites come to grips with Abercrombie & Fitch’s judgmental hiring practices

by PegNews wire

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.

Staff
Verified User
Anonymous

It's a sad day when even Hooters is beating you on the discrimination policy front.

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

DC Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

chretienne Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Who the hell shops at Abercrombie & Fitch anyway, except for clueless Millennials and anorexic girls with no breasts? Puh-leeze.

viva_la_malcriada Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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!

snowboard9 Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

"The job is "a cattle call and you are hired based on looks, not your ability to fold clothes"

Talk about priorities!

Clay213 Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

Seanchai520 Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Seanchai, I'd be right there with you, if not for the paralyzing fear that I wouldn't make the cut. :(

Pavel Lishin Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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?"

DC Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

I didn't realize it was eugenics Wednesday.

David Gouldin Staff

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

EVERY day is Eugenics Wednesday! My momma would be proud!

ch0 Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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)

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

Seanchai520 Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

AnnMarie Wilson Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

Seanchai520 Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

AnnMarie, you've obviously never lived in Miami.

Alex Bentley Staff

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Or L.A.

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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?

Rick Yost Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Hey Rick! Y'all hirin'?

ch0 Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Nobody ever wakes up in Dallas and thinks they've fallen asleep in Miami.

DC Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Where's Doyle? I bet he does.

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

cho- Sure! Just make sure to send your pic with your resume.

Rick Yost Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

AnnMarie Wilson Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

luniz Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Don't like it then don't shop there. A&F is probably hurting just like all other retail right now.

Screw 'em.

Lisa Lawrence Merritt Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

AnneMarie, you might be interested in checking out this film(http://www.americathebeautifuldoc.com/)

Donna Chen Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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!

AnnMarie Wilson Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Thanks Donna - I've heard about this! Going to pass it along....

AnnMarie Wilson Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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!

snowboard9 Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

luniz Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Some people simply need a scapegoat, luniz. I'm not sure why you're wasting keystrokes on it.

Scott Doyle Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Speaking of scapegoats!!! Scott, you're back!

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Never left, simply busy.

Amazing how my level of PN presence is directly correlated to hangovers. =p

Scott Doyle Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

AnnMarie Wilson Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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!

luniz Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

Scott Doyle Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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!

Rick Yost Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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...

looks
athletics (oh yeah lots of this too)
brains

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!

AnnMarie Wilson Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Smart enough to be rich.

Jason Rice Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

AnnMarie- We'll have the nomination on the big screen at Pearl. Come on down. :-)

Rick Yost Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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!

AnnMarie Wilson Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Well, at least you can all be cognizant about your motives the next time you smear yourself over something beautiful.

DC Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

Rick Yost Verified

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.

DC Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

Considering how many lard ass fat Americans there are, AnnMarie Wilson's Illuminati marketing team is doing a terrible job, and should be sacked.

Clay213 Anonymous

1 year, 2 months ago
Link to this comment | Suggest removal

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.