WE WERE REALLY SCRATCHING our heads on this one! In 1999, Abercrombie & Fitch issued a catalogue which could only be described as kiddy porn. In fact the Michigan Attorney General’s office thought it was so bad, they issued a “cease and desist” order on its distribution.

But the Boycott Network saw something worse. In fact something bordering on the sinister. We saw what appears to be a successful attempt in manipulating the minds of our young adults. And don’t scoff at the suggestion! Advertising agencies were caught attempting to manipulate the public through subliminal advertising in the 1960's.

For those of us “over the hill” (anything past 24), let’s take a step back in time before we delve into the current situation.

Remember that “critical” time in our junior and senior high school years? You know, when questions bugged us such as: Do our classmates accept us? Does the opposite sex find us attractive... or at least interesting? And even more important: What can we do to be more popular?

And our parents! Yuk! Always harping on homework, grade point averages, accountability, responsibility, etc. Come on folks! Cut us some slack!

What about those of us planning on college? Remember how we were looking forward to our independence? To the day when we could be free to make our own choices and decisions without parental involvement?

Well, the years may have come and gone, but everything else is just about the same. Our children - now young adults - are also concerned about acceptance. About impressing that one special person. About appearing independent and marching to their own drummer.

Yes, it seems nothing has changed but the year. It seems that way, except now there’s a fly in the ointment: an irresponsible company is attempting to exploit and increase the peer pressures on our youth in order to enhance their bottom line. And that company is Abercrombie & Fitch.

A&F’s quarterly “megalogs” don’t seem to be designed to sell merchandise per se - in fact very little is in the book - but rather it appears their sole purpose is an attempt to “bond” with our youth in order to provoke (and even challenge) them into throwing responsibility and accountability to the wind.

Yep! Just what we need. It appears an “over the hill” bunch of psychiatrists, psychologists, and merchandisers are attempting to bring our youth down to their level in order to make a buck.

The BIG question is: Has it worked?

The BIGGER answer is a resounding NO!

A&F’s sales figures are not only suspect, but in the view of this analyst, deceitful. In comparing A&F’s fiscal year 1999 (when the Boycott Network’s informational program began) to fiscal year 2000, A&F’s ratio of sales to the number of stores... DROPPED by approximately 15%! At the same time, their ratio of net profit to the number of stores... DROPPED by an astounding 25%! A&F has masked these declines by conveniently glossing over the fact there were only 250 stores in 1999 and 354 in 2000. In addition, their fiscal year 2000 was composed of 53 weeks of sales as compared to 52 in the fiscal year 1999. That makes the drop even more significant!

With the exception of that traditional small segment of folks easily swayed and manipulated, the A&F campaign has left a bad taste with our youth. Apparently A&F’s “over the hill gang” of psychologists didn’t understand today’s young adult is far more sophisticated and difficult to manipulate than ever suspected. In addition, A&F didn’t count on the higher moral standards found in today’s young adults. Demographics magazine found our younger generation to have some of the highest moral standards ever recorded. And they weren’t alone. The University of Chicago came to a similar conclusion in their ongoing sexuality study.

At a meeting held in Champaign, IL on August 4, 2001, a  young lady from the University of Illinois exclaimed “We don’t need any more pressures thrown on us. And we don’t need someone pulling our chain. A&F is trying to make us believe everyone’s just having sex and drinking booze! BS! Perhaps a few dolts, yes. But not my friends, and certainly not me!”

Then who is buying the A&F catalogue... other than a few in that small, easily manipulated segment of our youth who think they can impress others by owning one?

Surprisingly, it appears A&F’s description of the catalogue as “Pictures hotter than a backyard barbeque,” appeals to that certain segment of 50+ males strutting around with pierced ears. You know, that subset who won’t admit their youth is gone, and instead continually try to invade our younger generation’s space and associate with them?

If this is indeed the case, then all we can say is “Come on guys, grow up! In spite of what you think, those younger gals really DON’T want you!”

The 7/15/01 issue of the LA Times (click HERE for the full article) seems to hit the nail on the head: “Go to a health club, a beach club, anywhere people of different ages change clothes. Who do you see changing quickly in a corner? Teens. Who prances around naked? Fifty-year olds.”

Naoeme Emery added in the 7/23/01 issue of the Weekly Standard: "These grown-ups want to be cool; they want to be hip; they want to be with it; they want to be friends with their children. But the problem is that young people have enough pals..."

And Naoeme’s right! “Hip” parents may occasionally be interesting, but our young adults need love, understanding, and guidance, not an over the hill crowd of manipulative merchants adding to the already overheated cauldron called “Peer Pressure.”

So what is one to do about A&F?

Well for openers, our young adults seem to have discovered A&F’s quality is not up to par. Much of the material on their shelves is made in China... a source of increasingly poor quality. Although it may be “chic” and generational to have a sweater with the A&F logo or label, interviews have shown the younger generation is also a believer in the old saying “Fool me once... shame on you. Fool me twice... shame on me.” The net result is our young adults have been drastically limiting their purchases to a select few items while the bulk of transactions have been shifted to the competition.

And how about the rest of us? How can we support our young adults?

The answer of course, is to shop a competitor’s store. Wherever there’s an A&F, there’s bound to be someone with equal or better quality. Just as “no man is an island”, no merchandiser is an island.

A&F has to be taught a lesson, and the lesson is very simple: Don’t mess with the minds of our young adults!

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