Abercrombie & Fitch or A&F is an American lifestyle retailer that focuses on casual wear.

However, the A&F that we come to know is way different back than it was on 2002. The A&F in 2002
can be found among the majority of malls in America and its target market were primarily teenagers.

A&F has received numerous criticisms as they are thought to be no different from the other
stores that sold worn, casual and rugged clothes but perceived to be overpriced. A&F in partnership
with Quarterly (as Quarterly not only holds the clothing portion of A&F but also has interviews with
famous people), releases 4 issues yearly which includes spring break, summer, back-to-school, and
Christmas.

Quarterly’s first publication was rained with public outcry and controversy as their “back to
school” issue as it was said to encourage underaged drinking of alcohol as the article was titled
“Drinking 101”. A&F responded by placing a ban on the articles that would seem to encourage
underage drinking. It was ironic that Quarterly wrote an article on alcohol when A&F’s target market
were not on legal age of drinking.

Soon, A&F switched the theme and focused more on sex on their Quarterly publication
which included interviews with numerous porn stars and featured sex advices to teens. In Christmas
of 1999, Governor Wood wants to start a boycott after Quarterly published “naught or nice” which
included pictures of santa in masochistic form along with elves posting in an inappropriate way. As a
result, A&F covered their magazine with opaque wrappers and labelled them “You must be 18 years
of age”. Although A&F took action, Wood was not convinced.

Due to A&F’s theme, Wood firmly believes that A&F is endorsing soft porn in the form of
clothing catalog which is inappropriate as their target market included adolescents. Wood claimed
that A&F is slowly promoting sex, rape and unplanned pregnancy as the publications usually display
partially nude models in sexually explicit position. In addition, people who boycott A&F believes that
the retailer is manipulating teens into thinking that it is “cool” to show those behaviour.

The boycott seemed to be working as there was an 18% dip on the sales of A&F, however
A&F chairman, Michael Jeffries, stated that the dip was due to the 9-11 attack. After long years of
criticisms and boycotts, A&F decided the cancellation of the 2001 Christmas issue as it was
disrespectful for the 9-11 victims. Many still have thought that this was due to their outcry.

Jeffries concluded that he is not concerned of the criticisms both he and A&F received as the
sales started to pick up once again which made him uncertain of the future decisions he would be
making on quarterly’s future issues.