Abercrombie & Fitch Gets Heat for Peddling Sex at the Mall

By Pamela Mortimer

They’d been warned but the management at Abercrombie & Fitch wouldn’t take down a photo display of scantily clad men and women. The police had no legal recourse against the company, so they cited the manager of the store on a misdemeanor obscenity charge.

Police issued the summons after the management at Abercrombie & Fitch refused to heed warnings regarding their racy posters. According to police spokesman Adam Bernstein, there were some customers at the Lynnhaven Mall who had complained about the models’ state of undress.

The summons reported the presence of "obscene materials in a business that is open to juveniles," Bernstein said.

One of the photos depicted three shirtless young men, with one man's upper buttocks showing. Authorities stated that the other offensive image was of a woman whose breast was largely exposed.

"The marketing images in question show less skin than you see any summer day at the beach. And certainly less than the plumber working on your kitchen sink," Abercrombie & Fitch said in a statement.

Bernstein said the police had elected to charge the manager of the retail store because there were no legal grounds they could use to cite the company. If the manager is convicted, he could face a fine as high as $2,000 and spend as much as one year in jail. The manager has declined to comment on the incident.

The trendy clothing company, based in New Albany, Ohio, plans to pursue its legal rights aggressively and expects to prevail.

This isn’t the first time that A & F has earned marked disdain for its marketing campaigns. Over the years, it has gained a somewhat questionable reputation for its risqué catalogs and ad campaigns featuring scantily clad models.

In 2003, the company halted publication of its Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly catalog after a run of seven years. There had been complaints lodged against the catalog regarding sexually suggestive photographs but Abercrombie spokesman Tom Lennox would not concede that was the reason the catalog's U.S. run had ceased. "The Quarterly just ran its course, and it was time for a new direction," Lennox said.

In 2004, the A & F consented to pay a settlement of $50 million in a lawsuit that accused the company of promoting white models over minorities in order to cultivate an all-white image.