Clothing empire Abercrombie & Fitch’s latest T-shirt design depicting Asians as nothing more than laundry service workers is tasteless and crude. To their credit, the clothier did pull the offensive shirts from shelves after numerous complaints. But Abercrombie & Fitch should be ashamed of themselves for perpetuating a stereotype that should have died a century ago.
The most offensive of the new line was a T-shirt reading “Wong Brothers Laundry Service — Two Wongs Can Make It White.” The shirt depicted two smiling Asian men with slanted eyes and traditional hats. Another style featured a smiling Buddha with the slogan “Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash — Get Your Buddha on the Floor.” The humor and logic behind the design is beyond good judgment, and it’s amazing the company’s officials approved the shirts.
Abercrombie & Fitch spokesman Hampton Carney told the Associated Press the shirts were created to cater to Asians and reasoned the company makes fun of everyone. Carney cited past satirical clothing designs included a foreign waitress, taxi drivers and Britons. But just because the company stereotypes everyone doesn’t mean it’s okay to continue. Any attempt to perpetuate racial and social stereotypes is a blow to society. And any endeavor to trivialize an entire culture’s philosophy and religion only encourages bigoted attitudes.
Student representatives from the University’s Asian Pacific American Student Union were unaware of the T-shirts or the backlash against Abercrombie & Fitch. But Asian students at Brown University protested at their local mall in front of the store and demanded an apology from the clothier. And Asian students at Stanford University started a phone and e-mail campaign calling for the same action.
Racism and bigotry are issues that constantly resurface within American society and it doesn’t help when popular clothing retailers promote closed-minded ideas. With increased scrutiny on race relations and racial profiling in metropolitan cities, the messages Abercrombie & Fitch is putting out for kids don’t help — they only fueled the social labels that already exist.
Asian men and women are much more than the laundry service maids that Abercrombie & Fitch makes them out to be. Society can only move past intolerance of any sort as far as popular culture will let it. And if a popular store like Abercrombie & Fitch is any indication, society has a long way to go before racist attitudes can be changed.