The Image

Today, I would like to share with you a lovely little article which can be found here.

Most people would read the title of this article and begin to think that it is rather offensive and negative. Congratulations to those who do, because I agree with you! This article and its message is actually pretty appalling. I can understand why the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch thinks this is a good idea, for he is trying to make their products niche, thereby hoping that this will increase their profits and allow their business to grow.

Economically, it is a bold but possibly brilliant move.

But economics, though undoubtedly important, is not everything! There is the stereotype of the ruthless businessman who does whatever it takes to increase his gain, for finical gain has become the most desirable end to some people. Seriously, there is a massive problem within western culture at the moment with people placing money and finance above other people. We now care more about how much we are earning that we do about being generally polite. It costs nothing to be nice.

When he says that he wants his customers to feel like one of the “cool” kids, he is saying that being “cool” is exclusive. It is true that not everybody is considered “cool”, but I can honestly say that there are many people in this world who are exceptionally “cool” and who do not have what many in the west call beautiful. Honestly, the age old saying “Beauty is only skin deep” is more than true! Of course looks matter, of course it is important to look nice but there are far more important things in life than whether or not you are thin.

Those who think that appearance is the most important thing in the world are going to be disappointed when their beauty fades.

As a final thing, I’d like to point out a couple of the problems in what he is saying. Firstly, “all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends” does not have a great attitude if they are acting superior to everyone else. Also, from my own experience, people who seemingly have “a lot of friends” can sometimes have no real friends, only false ones.

The other thing he said was “Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla.” Excluding people because they are not the same as you, or because they do not meet your wonky standards of what is good or right is ultimately the most ancient idea in human history. Basically, it is vanilla to not be inclusive. Yes, you have to be different from everybody else in order to be shocking and individual. But when you realise that, actually, everyone has something different and unique about them, you realise that honestly, you can be different and include everybody.

To conclude, I would just like to say that I highly recommend disregarding anything that this man may say in the future or has ever said in the past. People like that just are not worth our precious time!