Reasons American Apparel Sucks (NSFW)
by Kelly
…and should be boycotted!
There is a wealth of information out there about the now-infamous American Apparel. After collecting articles and advertisements for the past year or so, I’ve decided to create a quick overview of reasons to boycott American Apparel – complete with links to some very eye-opening articles.
Besides the fact that I find the clothing at American Apparel to be ridiculously overpriced (and fueling the consumer habits I discuss in “Hipsters and the Consumer Culture of Cool”), there are other reasons AA is a toxic company:
1. EXPLOITATIVE & SEXIST AD CAMPAIGNS
Hey, sex sells, I get it. But where do we draw the line? American Apparel ads are practically soft-core (borderline child) pornography. These ads depict “real” women who are not all necessarily size 0 (more like size 2 or 4, what a radical difference). That makes the pornographic nature of the ads that much more offensive to me. I identify much more strongly with the women in AA ads than I do photo-shopped supermodels gracing the cover of Vogue. It sends a more direct message to young women everywhere – this model looks like you, she’s wearing our clothes and pushing her ass in your face, this is what modern, cool young women do. Don’t believe me? Sometimes pictures speak louder than words:
2. EXOTIFICATION OF MULTIRACIAL WOMEN
As if sexism weren’t enough, there are a series of AA ads that list the ethnicity of the (female) models – supposedly to celebrate diversity. I think most would agree, however, that it unnecessarily points out the “exotic” ethnicity of the model. Read this article for more information.
Also check out part of a Racialicious series entitled Race and Pop Culture Trends: Hipster Racism
3. DOV CHARNEY, CEO
Sexual harassment, workplace discrimination, unprofessional behavior. Oh, and he requires all his employees to be approved personally by him — in regards to their attractiveness.
Plus, take a look at this guy. Doesn’t he look like a pedophile from the ‘70s? Ugh. Keep that in mind the next time you shop at AA.
There are too many related articles to count so I’ve organized them into categories:
SEXIST ADVERTISEMENTS:
American Apparel ad banned
I hate sweatshops. Now, which one of you wants to suck my dick?
Leftist Balkanization
This is sooo not at all pornographic, you puritanical busybodies.
DOV CHARNEY:
Is Dov-y Too Lovey? A Look at American Apparel’s CEO.
Who’s Your Daddy? Dov Charney serves up paternalism with a creepy smile at American Apparel HQ
Dov Charney is an MRA. Pardon me if I don’t faint with surprise. & Dov Charney thinks you’re stupid.
Living On The Edge At American Apparel
Dov Charney: The hustler and his American dream
“Must be intimate with Office.”
American Apparel: Made With Dov.
LEGAL ISSUES:
Employee Suing American Apparel Once Defended Them
Dov Charney’s Court Case Is Totally Complicated
We Predict More Lawsuits in Dov Charney’s Future
Sexy marketing or sexual harassment?
THE FULL PICTURE:
Understanding American Apparel
Cheers,
Dollface
P.S. For a good laugh, read The Onion’s ground-breaking expose: 14 American Apparel Models Freed In Daring Midnight Raid
I’ve never bought anything from American Apparel before because I’ve always found their prices a little too steep, but I HAVE admired some of their pieces. However, I agree that some of the images used in their advertising campaigns could be classified as sexist, and some of those articles you linked to were real eye-openers. Thanks for the interesting read, and WELCOME BACK! How was your holiday? :)
OMFG! I have never bought anything from AA before because the only places that sell it in NZ are boutiques and the price is extortionate for what you get.
But now, even if I’m a millionaire I’m not going to buy their clothes.
I read a few of the articles you linked to and they make me sick. How can the CEO get away with that? How do people feel drawn to this company with amateur soft porn used for advertising.
Thank you for making sure I never convince myself that American Apparel is the only place I can get a plain tee from!
I thought it was interesting that when I was working on the piece about the D.C.-area AA stores that were vandalized and threatened because they had “Legalize Gay” shirts in their window displays, I found several comments from people suggesting that AA had staged the vandalism just for the good press. I guess some people didn’t think it was outside the realm of possibility because the company sucks so hard in other areas.
I don’t understand how the advertising draws women to buy clothes from AA. I mean, the target audience seems to be a group of 20 year old males.
Appalling.
Yeaaaaah, I’ve never liked AA. ALOT of my friends do though. I posted this article on facebook- no response FROM ANYONE. :( I wish people didn’t ignore this stuff.
Thanks for your comments, ladies!
@ Corrine — My vacation was great! I’d love to break from my norm and do a personal post on it. I wish I lived in Ireland year-round!
I find American Apparel clothing to be cute sometimes too, and if it weren’t for the prices AND all the stuff in the above article, I’d shop there. I prefer thrifting anyway!
@ Ms Constantine — I don’t know how or why the CEO gets away with this crap, I really don’t.
@ Jezebel — That’s interesting. I wouldn’t put it past them either…
@ Jackie — Ahh, but we are supposed to want to be LIKE those women because we know 20 year old males like them. Ughh.
@ Bunny — I know what you mean! All my college friends shop there, and when I bring up reasons not to, they ignore it. I actually had one friend say to me, “but their clothes are so affordable! where else would i shop?” Oy vey. Thanks for linking to the article, though!
[...] The CEO of American Apparel is a serial sexual harasser and AA in general uses amateur soft porn for advertising. Please don’t give them your money. (NSFW) [...]
I am torn here, becuase on everything else they are so much better than any other clothing company. (environment, garment worker rights, and wages) However, their ads are so bad though. Granted most clothes companies have terrible sexist ads, these ones are just so blatant. I am seriously torn here.
hello my iran
hello to you too, mostafa?
@ Ian — Yeah, Ian, I’m torn. However I did find some compelling articles about how their workers rights are NOT as peachy-keen as AA would lead us to believe. I’ll try to track them down and email them to you/post them here.
it’s such a shame that a seemingly ethical company would have such a huge flaw! i thought i’d found a new place to shop at – as i try to only buy fairly traded ethical stuff – but no way am i supporting that kind of advertisment…
*sigh*
do you know any better brands that actually ARE ethical?
thanks :)
What exactly does a pedophile from the ’70s look like?
You people are feminazi, sex-negative idiots. AA is an incredible company. Vive AA! Think about what you are saying here: You want to actually boycott the one clothing company that proved to the world that it’s not necessary to exploit third world labour just because its founder is a man slut? You want to boycott that company and not the millions of others whose practices perpetuate systems of unconscionable inequality and grind the real poor of the world into oblivion? You bitch about their stuff being overpriced but fail to recognize that that might be because THEIR WORKERS EARN A LIVING WAGE? You want to freak out about “exploitative” AA ads but not about the avalanches of violent porn available for free on hundreds of streaming and file sharing sites featuring women surgically altered into freaks of nature? Or the millions of other companies that use sex to sell their products? You’re actually upset that the women in these ads are realistic looking? Isn’t that what second-wavers have been screeching for for decades? Talk about political correctness gone berserk. If women working at AA are being treated so badly they can sue this perv like what happens to every other guy who crosses the line in corporate America. Problem solved. How ‘bout a little perspective people? Look at what you’re wearing right now. Do you know the provenance of every stitch you have on? AA-customers do. There are MANY MANY more stores at the mall far more worthy of your vitriol. Are we sure this doesn’t have a little bit to do with our own body-consciousness issues here than any real injustices?
You make some good points, Pat. However, if you search this blog you will find posts about violent pornography and other issues that women face today. I found the controversy surrounding AA to be intriguing and worth posting about. I never said it was the worst problem we face in today’s society.
Might I also point out that my vitriol is quite mild in comparison with the words you just threw around (idiots, feminazis, and so on). Cheers.
yes these ads are bad. But in no way approach the level of exploitation and sickness found in the BBC tv show Torchwood. It is the sickest program Ihave ever seen. However, few people recognize the level of sickness found in it. In fact it is well defended.
hi
i worked in a london store,staff r treated very badly,he asked photographs of the staff, and to fire some people those r not pretty, he wants all girls to wear clothes like how he advertise.all have to sign a letter saying that we never go to courts against american apparel.
Hey :)
One of my friends use to work in an American Apparel store over here in the UK and she also said that the employees had to have photos taken of themselves to see if they were “attractive” enough to keep their jobs and whether they still had “the look”. She lost her job after 2 months of working there. I have never brought clothes from that store and I don’t think I ever will.
Randomly came across this post – I was surprised to see the girl in the first ad (dark hair doe-eyed). She and another AA girl went to China two years ago to open the stores over there. I was freelancing at the time and curious about their operation in China, so I went for a part-time position in Beijing. She seemed to be a very nice girl, but I was amazed by how little these people knew, or took into consideration, when entering a totally different market.
The shops in Beijing and Shanghai were already all decorated and stocked, but they still didn’t have all the required licenses to open the shop – hence the delay. We were actually working without any form of legal contract at the time. They flew all the staff in Shanghai to Beijing and had the newly appointed Shanghai manager to supervise Beijing staff when we already had our own system going. The situation was a bit messy and some of us tried to talk to the US staff to resolve the problems.
What happened was quite interesting – they sat the Shanghai manager and Beijing staff together for a “confrontation session”, asking everyone to speak up. Afterwards, they said we could think about whether we want to continue working with AA or not, and they would call us in a few days for our decision. This suggestion seemed reasonable, but (!) when we eventually got the phone calls, those who spoke up were all fired, directly or indirectly (‘we were really looking for full-time staff at the moment’ when they were still hiring part-timers). We got paid for the time we worked there, but AA left a very bad impression.
I’d be interested to know how AA is doing in China now with the kind of people they hire and the rather juvenile way they run the operation, on retail level at least. No offense to their models, but if that’s the fast track to get to management positions…
AA does have a good ethical business concept regarding their factory employees, but I’m not sure about the rest. Of course marketing is a huge drive behind fashion business these days. However, I do wonder what AA really has to offer if all the provocative advertisements are “stripped” away.
Okay, so I’m just wondering… no one else saw that his peen was in that picture?
Dude, you can see the tip of that guy’s penis. How the hell did they get away with that?
LOL. i thought I was the only one who noticed it too because everyone seems to be complaining about every other ad where the womens’ hoohahs (lol) were somewhat covered.
Before you condemn the filth of AA you should also focus on the ongoing filth perpetuated by other organizations and media institutions such as the New York Times. Sexism, especially against males is rampant these days. Female exploitation is deemed to be ‘liberating”. Prostitution, perversion, pornography, its all fair game these days. Many people support and even defend and protect it and those who create it. Sexism is not just a ‘women’s’ issue these days as male exploitation and degredation are commonplace i nthe general media. This too affects how we as people view ourselves and interact every day. Equal and balanced cover should be given to all of these issues and solutions should be promoted as part of the coverage. Sadly, the only way to end this chaos is to confront those who create it directly. And I will not say if this should led t omore physical methods in order to stop the onslaught of sickness into humanity. However, the boundaries of what is ‘acceptable’ shall continue to be pushed. We are not just beginning to see the beginnings of the Pediophelia market. As well as the Transsexual market. Corporations shall continue to cultivate and create noew markets from scratch if they must i nthe pursuit of money. Capitalism knows no boundaries. However, it may be too late for America to stop the trend. So many people fight to defend American Apparel and other sick, racist corporations. AA is not so unique. their methods of business and hiring are just the same as H&M and various other corporations. That thrive on sexist ads, racism and discrimination. Its all the same ball game. Just the other chumps are better at hiding their dirty secrets. Anyhow, whatever, it shall run its course. People may wake up to how they are being used. but I wouldn’t bet on it. Most people are too dumb these days to bother.
Thanks for your article. I was trying to buy ethical clothing and when I surfed American Apparel came up but having read your and other articles concerning how the company blocked the employees from organising a union I think I’ll stick to thrift stores. What amazes me is how women like the women who posed for his ads involve themselves in this? I know it’s probably mostly for the money but they probably also get a kick out of the kudos of being on a billboard or magazine even though it’s with their legs spread to get f**ked. As long as there are women out there who consent to this misogyny by working for this company or buying the clothing, it will continue. Obvious really but I feel it’s worth stating. I really hate the term used by one of the other posters ‘feminazi’. That’s brought out all the time whenever women ask to be treated as human beings as opposed to a pieces of meat. Western culture has become hideously sexualised anyway since the 60′s and sex is not always necessarily a good thing. It’s intrinsically linked with violence and degradation – you only have to read about the thousands of women illegally trafficked and brutalised in the sex trade every year. The fact that these ads can be published with apparent impunity from obsenity prosecution shows how degraded our culture has become where depiction of women (well young girls really) as pure sexual objects has become normalised. It’s the same as young women thinking it’s cool and postmodern to wear playboy clothes. It’s so pathetic because by doing so they are saying it’s ok to treat me as a piece of meat. “It’s fun” but it’s not fun and it sends out a bad message. Most music videos are now pure porn. It’s so sad that some of the greatest female rock artists ever like Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde generally kept their clothes on but now it’s de rigueur to show as much flesh as possible. It’s not for nothing that Joni Mitchell called music industry heads ‘pornographic pigs’. American Apparel exists because our culture supports that kind of misogyny probably with the subtext that all kinds of sexual activity are fine. That’s why Dov Charney feels he can wip out his penis and masturbate in public whenever he feels like it. As far as
I’m aware, that’s exhibitionism, a criminal offence, but that doesn’t appear to have been mentioned by some of the journalists that write fawning interviews about him.
You can’t expect other women to not show off their bodies because YOU don’t feel comfortable showing off yours. The only way to have a society where women are not judged on their physical appearance is to pass laws forcing women to cover up head to toe just like they do in Saudi Arabia. We are NOT all equal when it comes to sex appeal! There were ALWAYS be some women who are better looking than others or even most. It’s high time that feminism officially divorce Marxism and trying to control others in order to reach unachievable ideals.
MrX, you are also making an assumption here by saying I’m uncomfortable showing ‘off’ my body. You don’t know me, or how I dress. You’re basically using the same old “all feminists must be ugly/horrible/wretched bitches who can’t get sex/partners” argument to completely dismiss my opinions.
Kelly, my prior comment was actually a response to Maeve’s comment. I am NOT suggesting that all feminists must be ugly women/insecure about their bodies but I AM saying that equating misogyny with the encouragement of female exhibitionism is just asinine. I just can’t understand the residual feminist hostility towards sexuality in the media. It seems so prudish and puritanical.
American Apparell is a piece of shit company with piece of shit quality material stuff. My girlfriend just bought the moust outrageously low quailty school bag for 50 bucks. For details it is Item: Nylon Cordura School Bag, Style: RSANC501. I have seen kids in the slum with better bags than this piece of shit, and get this, originally priced for 50 DOLLARS. This bag cannot possibly be worth more than a dollar of materials and if their workers are being paid 50 bucks on the hour. maybe 5 dollars in total cost. How do they get off selling their crap products for 50 bucks? No wonder theyre going bankrupt
Feel free to add this: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8741482&l=41807a81e8&id=567422532
I must also add that the employees are incompetent at least in my experience and everyone else’s.
[...] Reasons American Apparel Sucks (NSFW) [...]
American Apparel’s ads are just disgusting beyond words. Bullshit to those who say it’s not pornographic but art. I’m just sickened that a clothing store aimed at young women have ads like these. It’s equally disgusting that our culture thrives on sex in order to sell stuff and that women and men models are treated like pieces of eye candy instead of people. On top of that those who run this are so blind or don’t care the outcome of the message their selling: That women are submissive sex objects.
Though I think they can’t sink lower in their clothing line than their micro mesh. Really? Really?! I bet it’s the company’s owner just demands these kinds of photos JUST because he wants them for his own sick private collection. I mean honestly…..What is this company trying to sell? The clothes or the models? I hope this store goes under.
Okay, all you dudes saying that this is liberating and empowering to women:
Here’s the thing, yeah, a mini skirt can be empowering, but it depends on who put who in the mini skirt to begin with and why. It’s not as simple as “anything goes these days.” And so what if this article isn’t about the world’s biggest problem in regards to media/society degrading women? Until we address the smaller things, nothing is going to get done and your shitty attitudes of women will still remain.
I’m so sick of you clowns thinking you “get it.” Go wear your TOMS and pretend like you’re making a difference in the world.
Ummm… I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but you can see the tip of his d*ck. How the hell did they get away with that? That is disgusting.
[...] Si ce n’était que les stars pornos.. seulement American Apparel ne cesse le marketing à base de jeunes filles à moitiés nues, qui ont souvent l’air d’avoir 13 ou 14 ans. Serait-on face à de la pornographie juvénile? En réalité, sûrement pas. Mais ne me dites pas que ces images ne vous évoque pas du tout la pédophilie: Images du site Rotten Little Girls. [...]
I completely agree. There is a big difference between using sex in music videos and in ads. I like some pieces of AA, but their ads? God, I would never go into one of their shops. Looks like a porn shop. Neither would I shop on their sites. Sex sells and a bit of sexy is fine, but I really don’t want random -jailbait-looking- girls shoving their ass in my face. Really? If some racy video of Rihanna comes on tv, I’ll switch to another channel, easy as that. If I want to buy clothes at AA? Can’t switch away those rape-looking ads. When I’m walking down the street and see those ads? Sure I’ll turn away but by then I’ve already seen them. I wish these all-loving-hippies would stfu and accept that there ARE limitations to what they can show on tv and in magazines. And yes, I don’t agree with the over-use of sex on tv either, that doesn’t mean we can’t discuss AA. That’s like saying ‘You can’t complain about not liking spinach, kids in africa don’t have any food at all’. Oh oke, first we’ll feed africa and get rid of ALL the sex-crap on tv and then we can finally bitch about AA and not liking spinach. Somehow they can make soft-porn ads and we can’t complain about them? If you want to see someone push their ass in your face, go look online for porn and go look in porn magazines. In clothes magazines and on tv, I do not want to see anyones boobs or ass. Nor would I want my lil young sister to see these ads when I am out shopping with her. ‘It;s your own responsibility if your child/sibling watches rihanna or christina aguilera on tv’. Yeh you’re right there, I don’t let any kids watch tv anymore. But who’s responsible for what they see outside? Next time I’ll ductape her eyes just so YOU pervs can enjoy seeing an AA ad of a girl in her underwear licking some guys crotch :) That’s an actual ad, google it. Sorry but sex and violence should have no place in ads or outside where children might see it and MOST normal decent people dislike it. If you watch it on tv or buy a magazine, that’s your OWN choice.
What many of the men here lack comprehension of is the fact that feminists are not being anti-sex, they are being anti-sexploitation. And this is a completely reasonable argument, as it is the very foundation of why so many young girls dumb themselves down and act like mindless sex toys, in order to be ‘liked’ by others. I have never met a feminist who was anti-sex, but they do make an appeal toward reason when it comes to the expression of sexuality in popular media, that is, they ask that it be done tastefully! Meaning, a girl can be ‘sexy’ without taking all her clothing off or acting like a mindless, cross eyed anime school girl. The feminist asks us to stop associating sexuality with stupidity, and to start associating it with intelligence. I understand that some degree of physical attractiveness is important too, but the feminist is only saying that if physical attraction is the ONLY attribute, then the womans sexuality is only skin deep. This basically over-simplifies women and makes them seem two dimensional. The feminist asks that we encourage the expression of women in the media as full developed three dimensional, psychologically complex beings. Is that so much to ask? We really don’t need jerks like MrX trying to kill the messenger by calling them prudish or puritanical. Obviously this person completely misses the mark.
I started wearing AA before they had stores or advertising because they made shirts that look good on tall skinny people in the USA with no slave labor.
I’m sorry but I’ll take the overtly sexual ads over slave labor any day.
As far as sexual ads go I actually prefer AA’s ads vs super airbrushed supermodels in every fashion magazine in the world. Now AA’s could be airbrushed too but at least they look like humans.
Still, I sound like an apologist and presexualization is extremely harmfull and sexist and I’d prefer if our society (including me) were far less accepting of it.
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