Yup, for all the great things one can say about American Apparel, for me it always comes down to the creeptacular dude in charge and the soft core porn they call advertisements. I can't support AA nor give them my money regardless of the domestically friendly, sweat-shop free and Eco-friendly practices.
I like some of the American Apparel clothing, I really do. Between picking up a few items at the Goodwill now and again and being given a t-shirt or two over the years, I have worn several items made by American Apparel. Some of there clothing looks really cool and comfortable and or other desirable attributes, but it's never enough to make me forget about where it's coming from.
Take this for instance, only one of MANY photos of models available on the AA web site. The photo archives section of the web site offers the tag line "Some of the best and most evocative images captured by our staff." It's upsetting that the models are frequently very young looking, objectified and half naked. You can see the straining rib cages of the often topless models and in this ad for leggings the young women is completely naked from the waist up showing off her practically non-existent breasts.
Is this really the only way to show a model in a zip up bathing yellow bathing suit?
It's not evocative to me, in numerous photo's you have shots that don't even include the item of clothing being advertised, just the half open mouth of the model.
There are so many sets of photos that I couldn't even look at them all without spending most of the day viewing creepy voyeuristic images of young women.
The media and AA themselves has been pretty open about the peculiar behavior exhibited by AA founder Dov. Charney. This screwball Canadian is no stranger to sexual harassment law suits and has masturbated in front of a female reporter on at least one occasion. He flouts that he is an nontraditional employer and holds professional meetings in his bedroom. He admits that he has slept with a number of the employees, uses sexual charged lingo (Cunt, Slut) freely and walks around the factory in his underwear.
There are articles dating back to 2004 noting Charney's bizarre behavior and uncouth business practices. This article from 2006 is a great introduction (yes it is 6 pages) to the world that is Dov Charney's mind.
If you want to hear about Charney's take on domestic violence go here.
The sad, but bitingly believable satire from The Onion.
The list goes on and on. Anything good that has come out of American Apparel is tainted in my opinion because of Dov Charney and his pervy ways. I would like to think that given the amount of negative attention, (not to mention the companies money problems) people would either stop buying from American Apparel or insist that the practices be altered. It's all well and good to laud the company for the conditions and wage practices but by ignoring all of the questionable or sexists practices you are saying that it doesn't bother you.
Well, it bothers me.
I have to say that I am really shocked. I had no idea they were putting up such pictures. I've never worn American Apparel. I stay away from the main and "youthful" brands of clothing. But THIS is ridiculous. This is exactly what I have been trying to point out to peers of mine. They argue that women are more free than ever and lots of them advocate that women should be allowed to do whatever they want with their body.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I agree that women should be allowed to do whatever with their body, it's inspirations like those pictures that make me think more deeply. How does a woman do "whatever she wants" with her body and not risk being objectified? This isn't the age where women have more freedom. We live in capitalism! This is the age where femininity and women's "free" sexuality are being exploited commercially.
The founder should be fired and all those pictures should be abolished. Porn peeping into the non-porn world is actually something I envisioned happening but it makes me extremely angry. Ugh!