Dwight McBride: Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch

The aurthor's thesis in this article is pretty clear. McBride tell his readers why he strongly dislikes the compnay Abercrombie and Fitch, because it is build upon racist views and beliefs; "[. . .] A&F's legacy of an unabshed consumer celebration of whiteness, and of an elitet class of whiteness at that, in the face of a nation whose past present are riddled with racist ideas, politics, and ideology, is not entirely new" (64). Dwight McBride gives detail in his article on how A&F's started, and how it turned into the company it is today, that targets young white males and guy males.
McBride first tells his readers that "in the mid-1980s [. . .] succeful corporations must primarily produce brands, as opposed to products" (59). We then find out how he came about to notice A&F in certain guy bars and places wherever he went. It was A&F target market that he notcied was guy white men and how he never saw advertising with people of color in them. He starts explaination with the history of Abercrombie and Fitch. There first store open in 1892 by David T. Abercrombie and it was originally a outdoors store to supply the outdoors men. Ezra Fitch later became a partner and the store turned into Abercrombie & Fitch (62-63). After Fitch ran Abercrombie out and made the store into a huge outdoor supply store where some very famous named shopped at such as, Teddy Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, and Winston Churchill. McBride then points how even back then the store was for white people; "It is not surprising that the cothier we know today developed from a company with early roots in exploration, adventure, and cultural tourism catered to the white upper classes" (64). They then filed for bankruptcy in 1977 and wasn't started back up untill 1988. But it wasn't untill 1992 when Abercrombie hired Micheal Jefferies and Bruce Weber when the company became popular. They started advertising to "glamorize the hedonistic collegiate lifestyle" (65). McBride then tell's his readers "the danger of [Abercrombie's] marketing scheme is that it depends upon the racist thinking of its consumer population in order to thrive" (66). McBride goes on to point out more racist things about A&F like few minority workers, models, and store policy guidelines. People have filed major complaints about A&F and even some white employees feel uncomfortable working there.

Do you feel like Abercrombie and Fitch is the only store that does this?

Have you ever bought anything because it was a brand name product, even though it was more expensive? why did you feel you needed that one instead of the other?

I personally didn't like this article very much at all. I can undrstand where Dwight McBride is coming from and i agree with most of his points. I agree that Abercrombie and Fitch goes after young white males and guy people as a target market. They have some boarderline policies that could be considered racist and controversial too. But i don't feel like they should be sued over those views. And i'm not backing up A&F because i wear there clothing or becasue i like their clothes. I back them up because i'm a business person and i give them credit for finding a niche in todays market and are making a lot of money off of it. They are using the United States free-market system to their advantage. They aren't the only company that does this either, McBride mentions Ralph Lauren and Banana Republic, but what about brands like FUBU, Sean Jean, and Rockawear. Those company are based for the African American people and McBride never even talked about any companies like that. They have their niche towards African Americans but it isn't uncommon to see a white person wearing those clothes; just like it isn't uncommon to see a minority wearing A&F. I give A&F for finding a niche and keeping it up over the past year since they came back in 1988. I just think McBride isn't happy to see a company make money off of his aparent sexuality and him not liking the clothes.