Bring Your Card (No, Not Credit One) to Buy This
If you try to buy the latest Abercrombie & Fitch quarterly catalog this week, be prepared to show a photo ID.
Clerks at the chain’s 230 stores began carding purchasers of the A&F; Quarterly last week to ensure that the hybrid magazine-catalog is not sold to minors. The retailer acted in response to a letter from Michigan Attorney General Jennifer Granholm ordering the retailer to stop selling its “Naughty or Nice” Christmas “magalog” to minors because it contains sexual material.
The 300-page magalog contains photos of nude male and female models, and interviews with a pornography star and with comedic actor Andy Dick, who uses explicit sexual language. A cartoon shows Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus enjoying sadomasochism. The quarterly is shrink-wrapped in plastic and carries the advisory: “Editor’s note: Due to mature content, parental consent suggested for readers under 18.”
“We are carding every single person. If you are 75 years old and you are trying to buy one, you will be asked for identification,” said Hampton Carney, spokesman for the Ohio-based retailer, on Friday. On the same day, however, a 34-year-old Times staff member was not asked for identification when he purchased the catalog at the chain’s store in the Glendale Galleria. The $6 catalogs are sold at the stores and by subscription.
The fashion industry routinely uses sexual imagery for attention-grabbing effects. Calvin Klein was among the first to take the imagery off fashion pages and onto billboards and bus shelters. Most recently, he bowed to public pressure and dismantled a Times Square billboard that featured young boys clad in their underwear.
A&F;’s catalog has come under fire since its debut in a back-to-school issue in 1997. Early last year, Mothers Against Drunk Driving protested a two-page spread titled “Drinking 101” that featured recipes for alcoholic drinks. In July, five legendary surfers sued the retailer for using their names and likenesses to sell goods without their permission or knowledge. The “Spring Fever” catalog’s “Surf Nekkid” layout featured a historic photo of the surfers next to another photo of apparently nude male models.
The marketing is part of the A&F;’s remarkable transformation from an old-line purveyor of rugged outdoor wear to a hugely successful hip clothier for the college crowd.
The quarterly was the brainchild of Mike Jeffries, Abercrombie’s chief executive, and Sam Shahid, owner of Shahid and Partners, the retailer’s ad agency.
“They were inspired by old Norman Rockwell books. It’s that spirit of American youth,” Carney said. The editorial content is written by college-age and slightly older contributors from across the country. All quarterlies have been shot by photographer Bruce Weber, who is known for his homoerotic imagery.
The quarterly has been shrink-wrapped since shortly after its premiere in 1997.
“The reason for shrink-wrapping it was to show the skeptics that we know our customer is the 18- to 22-year-old college student. We know that so well we are going to wrap it in plastic, put a warning on it and still sell it,” Carney said.
The magalog contains articles “that we think the college kids are interested in,” Carney said. “We talk about books and video games. It’s a whole conglomeration of the pop culture that relates to the 18- to 22-year-old.”
While it’s too early to determine if the controversy has boosted clothing sales, the flap over the “Drinking 101” story helped boost sales that quarter nearly 70%.
Carney said the attention to the Christmas quarterly has been good, “. . . because it helps to convey our image.” A&F; printed 375,000 magalogs, Carney said. “We are considering going back on press with them because they have been so popular.”
In a statement in response to the Michigan order, A&F; said, “We take great pains to make the quarterlies as ‘editorial’ as possible by hiring talented writers and illustrators and using the finest photographers available in fashion today. But make no mistake about it, this is adult stuff. And like other products that are geared to the adult market, we have gone to great lengths to make sure that only they can buy it. . . . Nonetheless, it seems, some underage people have been able to purchase the quarterly despite our efforts.”
