McBride why I hate Abercrombie & Fitch

The thesis of this article is that Abercrombie and Fitch are selling young gay white men a lifestyle rather than the clothes they appear to be marketing. McBride’s interest, as he puts it, started while out with friend when he noticed that most of the men at the bar they were at was wearing some kind of clothing with the Abercrombie and Fitch logo on it. He goes on to explain that Abercrombie and Fitch stores and ads all have the same basic look and feel to them and even cites another book that points this out.

The main idea of this article is that Abercrombie and Fitch are not only telling gay men how to dress but also how to act, look, walk, shop, and go about their daily lives. McBride argues that Abercrombie and Fitch is also class motivated and presents the dress code of the company that does not overtly say white or whiteness but certainly promotes it. McBride also touches on the fact that older people are not shown in either the book or in any of the Abercrombie and Fitch ads.

McBride’s article is interesting but it some parts seem unnecessary such as most of the first few pages. In these pages McBride writes about the creators of Abercrombie and Fitch and how the brand became what it is today. This part seemed very drawn out to me, McBride could have explained the history in a few short paragraphs and still gotten his point across. This section I believe detracts from the main Idea of the article. McBride is trying to explain why he hates Abercrombie and Fitch but this section almost seems like he is trying to give a history and explain why the brand is the way it is.

Personally I agree mostly with what McBride says in his article however I do not agree with him that other retailers and brands do not do the same thing. For instance Hot Topic, it is a store that is most marketed to young middle class white rebellious teenagers. I have frequented this store and its website many times and after reading this article I began to realize that I have never seen an African American either in the store (neither shopping nor employee) or in their ads. I think its bias to say that Abercrombie and Fitch do this exclusively.