Abercrombie & Fitch do it again
 

I think this is sick and disgusting and only a pedophile would think of this...What do u think?

Thong Panties Marketed To Young Children
Many People Unhappy With Product Line
Updated: 6:19 p.m. EDT May 19, 2002

CLEVELAND -- An Ohio-based retailer that is no stranger to controversy is stealing the spotlight once again.

THONGS FOR KIDS
Share Your Thoughts

Abercrombie and Fitch is under fire for marketing sexy underwear for kids.

The company is making the line, which includes thongs, for girls ages 10 to 14.

A company spokesperson said that the underwear is meant to be lighthearted and fun.

But that's not how many people see it.

"You know, I still played with dolls at 12, and I wouldn't have thong underwear on at 12," said Kelly Duffelmeyer, a preschool teacher.

"Abercrombie and Fitch is selling clothes to make children sexually stimulating to adults," said Brian Camenker of the Parents' Rights Coalition.

Abercrombie's corporate headquarters said that the company has received only two formal complaints about the underwear.

Click On Detroit Channel 4 News

It's now safe to say do not put anything past A+F.

Bored at work, so I'm posting what they look like cause you might care to see.http://www.abercrombiekids.com/kids/.../1406_01_l.jpg

10 year olds are still hanging upside down on jungle gyms (at least I hope they are). The last thing they need is thong underwear.

totally gross.

The words "Wink, Wink" and "Eye Candy" on the thongs make this 100% more disgusting.

ITs a great marketing idea. I think that there is a decent percentage of 6th grade through junior high girls that start dressing sexy and provocatively. I have even heard of young girls carrying extra clothes with them so they can change into something hipper or more sexy without their parents being the wiser.

When I was at Spiderman, the movie, I was checking out this girl in front of me that had on a half top that showed her entire mid section and low SNUG hanging jeans that revealed several inches below her belly button . .. add in done-up hair, and a cell phone and it wasn't until I saw her face that I realized she was probably 14 or under. But damn, shewas dressed better, with better make-up skills than a lot of college age girls I know.

Also, the controversey is awesome. There is no such thing as bad publicity and this is guarenteed to get younger humans interested in wearing them.

Thank you Sigma Chi Card for posting the picture. They aren't very sexy thongs. I have seen bikinis on young girls that are more revealing.

The way you ladies were going on and on about this I was mentally picturing something smaller, black, and lacy. Or maybe something crotchless:p .

LOL

I didn't even notice that until now, blah that's disgusting.

FYI to James -> we can do without your dating anecdotes, thanks.

James...there is no reason for a 14 year old girl to be dressing like she's 18+. Guys that are 18+ shouldn't be looking at 14 year olds and thinking, "damn, she's sexy." It's vile.

Lemme guess...93.1, Jay Towers and the Morning Revolution, and Rachel was commenting on how she thought they were cute and that she was gona buy her daughter some. I duno what station ur talking about, but I could SO see Rachel sayin this.

It's the parents fault if they let their daughters wear stuff like that, because it's usually the parents who buy it. I mean there's like 9-12 y.o. girls out here that look like hookers.

Actually, it was Q95.5...Mojo in the Morning. ;)

Heard the same thing this morning! 95.5 is the only station I can get in here.

how was she dressed better than a college girl? that outfit you described isn't classy, it's trashy. whole stomach out? tight ass jeans below her belly button? pure trash. hopefully most college girls have more sense than that.

on another note...
agreed, parents should be watching out for their kids. however, i know my best friend's sisters (who are 13 and 14) go shopping on their own. they have both bought thongs. my friend's mom threw them out when she found out. but underwear are harder to find than, say, a belly shirt. no one sees the underwear. unless mom finds it in the wash.....which she probably will because few teens do their own wash!

I kinda agree with James. I mean little girls these days dress like hoochie mamas. I guess if your little girl is going to wear tight skirts and stretch pants, she might as well wear the thongs too. What ever happened to good old morals and values? I never wore some of the stuff I see little girls wearing these days.

That's so gross. As a former employee of that company, I can say that there are crappy things that go on behind the scenes there. It is not something I would ever want to be apart of again.
When I was 10-14, I was allowed to go shopping on my own. But, my mother made sure to check out everything I bought. There was no hiding stuff from her either....she did my laundry until I was about 14.
Sadly, I didn't even know what a thong was until I was 15 and didn't start routinely wearing them until I was a senior in HS. I couldn't imagine being 10 and wearing stuff like that. My mother bought me cotton underwear with paisley patterns on them...nothing sexy for her 10 year old. I'll do the same for my daughter so that she won't grow up to be like that 14 year old girl who James saw at the movie theater. ;)

blame britney spears... she wears the tight low-rise jeans with her thong hanging out, hell she even wears her thong on the outside of her jeans in her "i'm a slave for you" video... every little girl wants to be like her so its a given that they'll try and dress like her.

you really can't blame A&F though.. they saw a potential profitable product to market to that age range and went for it - no one ever said capitalism had morals.

Exactly, make the money first, think about the actions and the product and the negative recourse later.

Yes, I do not agree with the idea at all, I think it's sick, but to be honest, there are many things that little girls shouldn't be wearing these days, yet they still do. To me this means that are quite a few corporations out there that are decidiing to peak their profit potential(s) in this marketing range, and it seems like A&F decided to dip into that market.

***personal note***
I hate A&F with a passion.

Blaine

I dont see what the big deal is. People probably bitched when they came out with two piece bathing suits for girls, now they are the norm. Think of it this way, clothes are getting tighter, at younger ages, and instead of saying, dont wear ANYTHING under your pants to eliminate panty lines, at least they are encouraging SOMETHING.

Huh?

Just because a 10 year old girl is wearing a thong doesn't mean she's having sex, or drinking, or smoking, or swearing, or (pick your amoral activity) . . .

Anyone who desires to see 10 year old girls in thongs has serious problems, no doubt about it. But I don't think this is a moral argument in the slightest, unless you're saying that Abercrombie and Fitch Inc. is pushing poor morals via underwear, which I don't see how causation can be determined at all.

Poor taste, most certainly. Morally reprehensible, well that isn't an implicit truth.

It is disgusting that little girls are trying to dress this way.....they wouldn't be worried about trying to look "sexy" if they weren't planning to do something about it. But what kills me is that these children wouldn't be able to dress this way if the manufacturers didn't make their size.....

A lot of it comes down to parental irresponsibility. Somebody out there is letting their kids dress this way and then it filters down. Sure, there are kids sneaking it, but the vast majority get these hoochie clothes from their parents and wear them with their parents' knowledge. A ten year-old has neither the funds nor the means of transportation to acquire many of these clothes without their parents' knowledge. I dread my kids getting to the age where I have to battle with the lousy judgment of other kids parents.

I don't know about that. I think it's more so a a matter of desensitivity - kids see sexuality everywhere, cliche I know.

Watching Oprah yesterday the main discourse was about children and their exposure to violence and sexuality on television. One kid suffered second and third degree burns mimicking a skit from "Jackass". He was 12 years old, involved lighting himself on fire. The attention to detail was incredible, he and his freinds even taped it, laughing to their stunts exactly as Johhny Knoxville would. As someone mentioned with Britney Spears, if there weren't icons out there promoting this type of behavior, i'm convinced children wouldn't be slutting-it-up they way they are.

Not that i'm ignoring parents' responsibility, but i can't see these kids wanting to dress like this if media moguls like Brit didn't sell sex the way she does.

It's such a blame game...the parents, the media, the icons...and yes, this is all true but look what our society has come to in the last decade. When I have kids, it scares me to think what they'll try to get away with. And some people might be thinking, "it's just underware"...but when people get upset about things like this, it's about more than just thong underware.

Just a question.

Many of you don't blame A&F for this simply because they're dipping into a money-making market. Correct? I agree with that.

Reconsider.

You're blaming Brittney Spears for the same thing.
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How many of you thong-wearing girls have younger sisters? I guarentee these girls much more badly wanna be like their cool, 'hip' older sis than Ms. Spears. Maybe they say 'I wanna be like Jane, so I'm going to wear a thong too." Just think about it. Consider self, before pushing blame.

Well, little girls have always wanted to dress up and try to be sexy, even if we had no clue what it was about. I am from the Cher era, and I remember us running around with our t-shirt tails tucked up through the neckline, to show off our bellies. But we knew that was just for playing dress-up, and we also knew that our parents/teachers would never put up with us dressing like that regularly. That's the big diff - little girls going to school looking like they are playing dress-up. Plus, they didn't MAKE sexy clothes for that age group - because the parents would not buy them. The most risque thing I owned was a halter. And believe me, once the boobs started coming out, the halters started going away.

Yes, A & F is disgusting, but they wouldn't make & sell it if there weren't dumbasses out there buying it.

I agree with you Leslie 100%.

Additionally, we have to keep in mind that a lot of women in our (meaning the 25-35) generation had children as teenagers, so I lot of younger girls (10-14) don't have to sneak out and buy the sexy clothes/thongs....why? Because they can get it from mom (who is only about 26 or 27). Plus, if mom is constantly dressing provacative, her daughter will pick up on this because children will model themselves after their parent.

Hi UDZETA

I participated in the thread that you speak of yes, it is wrong for an EDUCATOR to check and see what kind of underwear a kid has on. And yes, it still believe that you should not be making THONGS for an age group of 10 to 14 year olds, which translates into 3rd/4th graders through 8th graders! :eek: Who cares about pantylines in 4th grade? Shoot, who was wearing tight jeans in the 4th grade? I am all for thongs :D but not for kids. What's next, thongs for Barbie?????

Maybe not, but it comes down to what the parents allow their children to leave the house in. I can't speak for everyone's families but most parents give their daughters an age on what they can do like date, trade stockings for panty hose, high heels, lipstick and makeup. Values only mean something to the individual. If your daughter starts off with all of these coming of age items, will she value them later?

I have no idea what the big deal is here! I don't care what kind of underwear a ten year old girl wears - the fact is, no one sees it, except her parents when they do laundry! Thong underwear isn't inherently sexy - if it's black lace, that's one thing; plain cotton, that's another. That's all I wear because I find that not only does it eliminate lines, it also is much more comfortable. Underwear is gonna go up your butt and give you a wedgie - you might as well start off with a thong and have less underwear stuck up there.

hahahahahaha

i like that post.

It's a two-way street. I blame britney spears because her largest audience by demographic are pre-teen girls that this underwear is marketed to.

When I was growing up, my sister (the eldest child) was in charge when the parents were out. The family unit has undergone considerable changes within the last generation. It is estimated that parents of today's teenagers spend 40% less time with their kids than the amount of time their parents spent with them. Now i'm not gonna get into the amount of hours worked, blah blah blah - what has changed is the interaction between siblings. Girls who allow their younger sisters to dress as they would (or do nothing against it) do not have the control the eldest child used to.

Not to mention that behavior is so inherent these older sisters are probably unaware of how their words and actions affect those who look up to them. It's the parents job to bring everything together. The parents have to say, look if this is how you're gonna dress on the beach - you can change elsewhere so your sister doesn't see this. And if that fails, it's their job to make sure the younger child understands the context this clothes represents.

In most cases, when we hear about children acting like adults, it's usually attributed to a failure of comprehension.

You can't blame Britney Spears the person. You have to blame Britney Spears the image. And in doing that you have to blame the media, her record executives and for that matter society in general. She wouldnt be that popular if a good majority of society didnt find something appealing about her. She is an image, entertainment for the eye, a marketing scheme and SigmaChiCard stated earlier. She's doing what many do..making money. I havent seen her condone anything that would cause harm to anyone. Also Britney Spears is really marketed towards pop music lovers. Her first hit "Baby One More Time" wasn't something that most lil girls (6-14)can or should relate to. If you blame Brintey, you should also blame many college women, along with stars who paved the way for Britney to dress the way she did (aka Marilyn Monroe, Racquel Welch, etc with clothing getting skimper by the decade).
I dont mean to sound harsh but the Britney bashing just gets old after awhile. Especially when there have been countless stars before and after her dressing and being marketed this way. Just let the girl do her thing.

Anywho back to A and F....

Anyone the new more scandelous catalog that is suppose to come out? Is is really that tacky?

What is the comment that the store geared at Asian Americans that made people so mad and offend??

I use to be a big AF fan, but the store turned true teeny booper. Its kind of funny that after I went in one night I returned home and there was a tv report on AF and one of their execs said that the store was geared towards 18-22 year old college students. Yeah right, it USED to be. :rolleyes:

the reason for Britney bashing...
 

I think the difference w/ Britney is that started so young. Heck, she's not even legal drinking age yet! Marilyn, Raquel, Cher all these other women (who, it's acknowledged, capitalized on their sexuality) were 25-30 at the peak of their popularity.

Plus Marilyn wasn't on MTV shaking her money maker 24/7/365.

Britney has chosen the job of "popular inspiration to teeny-bopper girls." Maybe she was really too young to make that choice when her career started, but she is old enough now to realize she has that influence.

That said, it's hard to be a role model for a distinctly younger age group. I mean, is she really supposed to act like she's 12? We expect her to act more mature and responsible than a 12-year-old, but not to smoke, or have sex, or wear revealing clothes, or do things that (many) adults do. And girls at that age want older role models, not girls their own age.

She talks about how she is trying to capture an older audience, but it hasn't happened yet.

But she couldn't have been so popular if she didn't have a receptive audience. Lots of pop stars are marketed at us, but they don't all "take." If it hadn't been Britney, someone else would have brought sex to the younger generation.

Do I really like 10 year olds dressing in clothes they don't even have the body for yet? No. But can it all be one pop star's fault? I doubt it.

Okay, when i make references to Brit, it's not just her alone, that's unjustified. I'm referring to all the current pop stars that market this sex image only because they don't have the talent to succeedl otherwise.

It's so damn hypocritical to watch a ms. spears video citing virtue and chastity and then another that could pass for softcore porn.

It's like my buddy says: her next video will be i'm not a virgin, not yet a slut.

Thanks for the post, that's exactly what I was going to say. I did not start wearing thongs because I want to have sex with every guy I meet, I wanted to be comfortable and eliminate panty lines. If I had discovered thongs at 10 or 12, I probably would have worn them once I discovered that they were way more comfy than bikinis...I spent too much of my life in uncomfortable underwear, no more of that thanks to thongs. Question is: What are the little girls wearing them for? My guess is that some are doing it because of the comfort factor, some want to be little hoochies who dress like the older girls they see and look up to at school. People today seem to forget that sexy and slutty are two separate entities. I dress what I consider sexy every day, with tailored, close-fitting shirts and pants, heels, etc. because I have a decent body and I don't want to look like a librarian. I wear short skirts, but with flat shoes and an appropriate top. I do NOT show any part of my nunga-nungas, that's slutty.

And then there's my thought that the fashion industry really wants women to look like little boys: no hips, no boobs. Men like women with curves, but fashion tells us that we have to look otherwise. Is the ten-year-old girl now the sexiest thing in America, because she looks like the fashion industry's idea of what is sexy, a look that's harder to achieve once you hit puberty? I'm pear-shaped and no way can I wear low-rise jeans, but I work out 5 days a week and have good muscles...is that no longer attractive, it's all about how little hips you have?

About the A and E catalog...Stupid Stupid Store...is it just me or is anyone else wondering why a company whose ultimate goal is to sell clothing features NUDITY in their catalog. I'll have "Things I Truly Don't Get" for $200, Alex.

honestly the only reason i said blame brittney (which i actually like her - download her version of i love rock and roll - its great :D) is becuase it sems like everyone is always so quick to blame someone... the parents for letting their children go shopping alone and buy that stuff, the media for condoneing that kind of behavior, a&f for making and marketing the product to make money... might as well start putting blame on brittney for wearing them.

i personally don't see the problem with these. seriously, its just underwear - something we all wear and something thats our own private business.

Good post!

Wait . . .

You're serious huh.

Well, here's the deal - your statement is grossly exaggerated, and I'd be loathe to be an ass about this. Here's the point in brief, though: wearing a thong DOES NOT, ever, in any way, ensure that you're going to have sex, that you are looking to have sex, even that you are AT ALL interested in having sex, no matter your age, sex, sexual orientation, race, legal status, marital status, or economic strata. If you need more explanation, I don't think this discussion will move much more past this impasse.

Avoid post hoc fallacies, people - we must be able to sufficiently show that one thing follows another, by providing a direct link. There is no way to do that here.

Let's put down the 700 Club membership newsletter for a minute, and focus on the real issues from an objective standpoint.