A&F Seeing Consequences of Sleazy Marketing

A&F’s Stock & Sales plummet from boycott of their pornographic Christmas catalog

Abercrombie & Fitch's (A&F) bottom line has been hit hard by the nationwide boycott and bad press generated by the company's latest pornographic catalog.

"Americans have over the past few weeks sent a message to this company that the sexual exploitation of teenagers to sell clothes is unconscionable," said Focus on the Family President Don Hodel. "Now Abercrombie & Fitch is starting to see the financial repercussions of its sleazy sales techniques."

Hodel's comments came in response to a story in December 5ths Wall Street Journal that noted A&F's in-store sales had dropped 13 percent in November -- and its stock has lost over 16 percent of its value since Focus on the Family and other pro-family groups urged Americans not to buy the retailer's clothes. In addition, recent trading volume is more than twice normal.

"If I were a board member of Abercrombie & Fitch -- or an investment manager -- this news would make me very nervous; I would be very concerned about stockholder lawsuits," Hodel said. "The precipitous drop in sales and stock value may be directly tied to the company's offensive marketing philosophy. And critics are not going to let up unless there is a change in that marketing policy."

A change in A&F's policy seems unlikely, however, based on comments from spokesmen since the 2003 Christmas Field Guide and its celebrations of group sex, oral sex and masturbation prompted the boycott. The clothier removed the catalog from store shelves over Thanksgiving -- claiming it needed the counter space to sell a new line of perfume -- but has refused to admit its use of naked models to market clothes to kids is wrong or will be altered.

In fact, company spokesman Hampton Carney defiantly told CNN/Money that "our spring quarterly will be back in January, and everyone will see that there's no change in our editorial policy. We will still have butts and partial nudity."

“If that's true,” Hodel said, “then A&F will still have to face the outrage of Americans who have had enough of "companies that think sexploitation at a time of rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases is OK if it separates people from their money.

“The boycott should and will continue," he added, "until Abercrombie & Fitch either stops exploiting our children or goes out of business as the result of its refusal to stop exploiting our children."