79. American Apparel
I never thought I could hate fair trade… but here we are. Here we tackle the heroin-chic, elitist, fair trade clothing company American Apparel, an organization that prides itself on employing American workers and charging $39.95 for a t-shirt. The problem with American Apparel isn’t that they are fair trade, it is that everything about them reeks of free trade. I mean sure everything you buy in the store was manufactured in Los Angeles, but from the borderline pornographic marketing campaign, to the Columbian sugar in the employees noses, this company not only further perpetuates corporate America, it spits all over the idea of fair trade.
I mentioned three buzz words at the beginning, heroin-chic, elitist, and fair trade. I will discuss these terms as they relate to the sluttiest of the slutty… American Apparel.
Heroin-Chic
The marketing of American Apparel is unbelievably misogynistic, and not wholesome in the slightest. Basically every company has a human representation of their product, Nike has the athlete, Macbeth has the punk-rocker, American Apparel has the coked out adolescent who may or may not have an eating disorder.
So what does this image say? “Hi I’m Natalie, I’m an eighteen year old who just loves American Apparel! By not wearing any top and laying in a passive way I’m suggesting that I’m submissive. Being submissive is so much fun, guys will buy you nice things and you don’t have to think at all! Notice how my eyes are sort of droopy and how it appears I’m not interested? I just did shitloads of heroin. Heroin is really wicked because it keeps my weight down, because really I wouldn’t have gotten this modeling job if I didn’t have a BMI below my age.”
This image and what it represents is what is wrong with our gender structure in North America. This picture is in no way empowering to poor Natalie, it is kind of hypocritical American Apparel would do this, I mean they are supposed to look out for people abused by western power structures. Strike one American Apparel.
Elitist
American Apparel, from their cutting edge $40 ‘white t-shirts’ to their stuck up employees, shits elitism all over the consumer. The more you wear American Apparel, the more of an elitist douche you become, if you rock one or two band hoodies made from American Apparel you probably aren’t a douche. If you have a few pairs of socks and underwear from American Apparel– quasi-douche. If every piece of your clothing, including your headband and book bag are from American Apparel you are the Queen of elitist-douchism. A study out of the University of California – Santa Barbara took five hundred individuals who claimed to frequent American Apparel. They asked a simple question, how many articles of clothing from American Apparel are you wearing right now? This represents the simple y-axis. Questions to measure their level of doucheness on the x-axis were: what is your favourite band? Do you wear glasses with no lenses? Do you think less of me because I’m wearing white after Labour Day? etc. They found that those who claimed to only wear American Apparel scored an elitist-douche level of seven or “Hipster-asshole douche.” Their findings are cited below:
Fair Trade
I’m going to be bold here and simply state that American Apparel is Not Fair Trade, sure their shirts are made in America but they go against everything the fair trade movement is trying to promote– giving people a voice once silenced by corporations. Well this corporation has sent the feminist movement back at least a decade, produced a messed up breed of psycho-kids, and really doesn’t represent anything good. If you want to do your part buy a Nike shirt for twenty dollars and then adopt a kid in Africa for twenty dollars a month.
though i agree with everything you’ve said, the fact remains — sad though it may be — that AA are still the only teeshirts and hoodies that fit me like a frigging glove. sigh.
To me that image says “Hi, I’m an 18 year old girl who doesn’t stuff her face with burgers, like a particular style of clothing that is a bit retro, are comfortable with my semi-nudity and don’t give a toss about people who read too way much in adverts such as the ones produced by AA”.
whoever wrote this is an idiot. read atleast some material on fair trade before you say something.
Kieran = correct.
American Apparel is teh awsum. Shame on the blogger, judging Natalie for taking care of her figure and chilling in the most comfortable clothes ever devised.
Jealous her ass is nicer than yours? (Well… it is.)
Sweet merciful fuck. It blows my mind that someone would complain about how much high-quality, fairly-traded clothing costs. Yeah, it’s not going to make a difference to the price, if they’re not being made by 9 year olds being paid a few cents a day.
Doing the right thing comes with a price. Grow up and deal with it.
My ass is so firm you have no idea.
If the company represented something I thought was morally good, I would drop the extra money no problem. I mean, I do the same with food (free-ranch meat, organic etc) I would obviously do that with clothing. The fair trade/free trade dichotomy is far more complex than you suggest. Just because clothing is made in America, doesn’t mean it should be something we should support.
Take a look at American Apparel: this is a company with a history of having photo parties, where models are given coke and then having their pictures taken. Sure the clothes are made in America, but these models are being exploited in a different way. You don’t need to sexualize something to make it popular.
Well, first off, they don’t tote themselves as fair trade. Sweatshop free, there is a difference. That girl doesn’t look like she has an eating disorder. She looks good. What’s so scary about girls being sexy? Girls displaying their sexuality doesn’t equate to submissive in my view. I know plenty of strong females who enjoy being sexy. Hell, some of them have no sexual interest in the opposite sex. As for doing coke, who gives a crap? It’s a personal choice. Somebody call John Ashcroft.
Right they don’t ‘tote’ themselves as being fair trade, but they are. The t-shirts are manufactured in the United States so anyone purchasing them anywhere else in the world is purchasing a fair trade product. Sure there might be differences in sweatshop free and fair trade (the often go hand in hand) but this is not the case with American Apparel. Mavricovich, think about what you are conceiving as being sexy, look at that picture, what does it say? The girl is laying in a submissive pose, she is clearly appearing to be sexually easy, and really she has become the product. Sure YOU might not view it as that but in truth the product is being equated to sex. If you read my other posts I frankly don’t give a fuck if people do coke or not, but when these girls are images for such a powerful organization, you’d think they’d set a better example. “They” in this case is of course not the girls themselves, but American Apparel.
their t-shirts are like $20
their t-shirts are only about $20
OP:
“they” use sexy women (and men) to sell everything from ipods to cars to herpes medicine. Who really gives a fuck? Do you think that’s going to stop anytime soon? Maybe you’ve purchased one or more of these items…. Maybe you should return your honda, throw your ipod out and treat your soars with ancient japanese medicine. Ah, just fucking with you. I actually agree with some of what you said, and share your general distain for the hollier-than-thou “hipstercrites.” (you can use that). I don’t own one AA clothing item because my job provides me with an abundance of free t-shirts. That said, I really don’t see demonizing this company when it seems they are trying, indeed, to at least do something half way right. I mean there are certain sexual truths. One of them is that a passive looking, hot 18 year old girl gives most hetero guys a chubby. This little factoid has been noted and acted upon throughout the ages. On that note, who would you rather “take advantage of”, some overpaid little tart with a possible drug problem, or some poor fucking indonesian kid with bleeding hands that works for 17 hours a day? I”m going for the overpaid tart. That said, this brand does seem to cater to the emo/hipster crowd, who’s main ethos is: “I’m better than you.” That attitude has always pissed me off and I therefore abstain from associating with said click and actively try to annoy them in any way I can.
OP:
you are pretty funny by the way, that graph was classic.
throwing around accusations of drug abuse with no evidence is a lot more irresponsible than making a shirt
http://jezebel.com/gossip/i-work-retail/working-at-american-apparel-is-all-its-coked-up-to-be-316322.php?cpage=2
The evidence about the drug culture at AA is endless.
wow… you suffer from that little self confidence… i mean i can think of dozens of other companies that are far worse but i guess the preps don’t frighten you as much as the hipsters. nice way of incorporating feminism and fair trade. i mean really. if you spent as much time discussing them as you did this “elitism” then maybe your argument wouldn’t have been quite as full of B.S. and take a moment to educate yourself a little better when it comes to fair trade. fair trade has never been about a final product as something being “affordable” its obvious you are just attacking american apparel because for whatever reason it frightens you. you offer no alternatives and sweep over anything positive that the company might otherwise support. organic cotton shirts that are also fair trade. if you actually gave a shit you would realize that the whopping $15, not $40, is worth it. while yes, the portrayal of women is questionable, you clearly care more about how you can monopolize this to suit your argument than the actual questionable nature of this depiction of women as objects. i will continue to enjoy my mornings comfortably snuggled in my american apparel hoodies, drinking my fair trade coffee and reading my riot grrrl zines. i feel sorry for you.
Read post 68. Shit’s a joke.
At least I’m not from Jersey.
Actually I jest, I wrote that just as I woke up for work. I really don’t care about any of the fair trade vs. free trade arguments anymore with regards to this post because you can actually argue that both sides have horrible problems in their current states. It’s kind of funny, most of the Canadians are agreeing that AA is a bad organization, and the Americans are calling me an idiot. The company itself was created by a Canadian. I haven’t lived in the states for years but my guess is that Canada has more options per capita with regards to fair trade and as such AA is viewed relatively as an evil. Fair trade isn’t always an inherent good man.
hehe, you feel sorry for me? thanks.
Anyway on to the issue that I really took offense to. “you clearly care more about how you can monopolize this to suit your argument than the actual questionable nature of this depiction of women as objects.” THIS IS THE PROBLEM I HAVE WITH AA!!!! I have friends who have been sexually harassed by male employees, I have friends who have modeled for AA and have been horribly objectified AND DRUGGED! I would buy from AA if they didn’t sexualize it so much. Trust me Rutgers, I work for programs that work to bridge the gap in gender issues and women’s rights, my convictions will run you through.
Keep reading your indie zines, keep drinking your fair trade coffee, keep wearing your hoodies, I seriously couldn’t care less. But if you want to judge me in terms of me being an ally to women and gender rights issues, you can fuck right off.
I think the best thing that was said in this post was to sponsor a starving kid in Africa for the 20$ you would have spent on a hoodie from AA
And eating disorders affect 1 out of every five girls in America…so that’s definitely an obvious problem. It’s funny how a few people literally decide what the next generation will think is beautiful, and then they put it all over magazines to market it and to make it happen. We are all kind of victims of that.
Wow, so much hate over stating one’s opinion coherantly. I personally live in Illinois and have never even heard of AA, but what I do know is the interpretation of the ad is dead on. Funny thing is, that is exactly what they WANT to portray. If you don’t think ad agencies take time in molding photos to what they want you to view it as, then you are poorly mistaken. It is actually quite common in fashion shoots to make girls look submissive and guys masculine and in control. The problem is, to the herd of people who can’t think for themselves, it becomes what they think people are supposed to be.
Personally, I think as a whole this country needs to step back and think about morality…especially kids in highschool and college. Kids want to rush to have sex so they can feel like an adult but can’t begin to cope with sexuality as an adult.
American Apparel is one of the only options to purchase wholesale clothing for little peons like myself that want to put artwork on sweatshop-free clothing at reasonable prices. I pay $4 per shirt and sell it for $15-$20 (artist receiving all profit after expenses taken out — the $4 shirt). excuse my run-on sentences. http://www.graphiclovejuice.com This is not an advertisement … it’s an example. What am I suppose to do? Buy my shirts at Wal-Mart? AND they treat their employees well.
This is actually a legit response DM. I have, on occasion, purchased a band t-shirt or an independent brand that uses AA. I do try to avoid it as best as I can, and although you are using something I think is evil, you turn it into your own thing, you brand it as something else. That is something I can get behind.
I must say that individuals attacking this guy for pointing out AA’s unnecessary adverts of women with their tits hanging out is ridiculous. With great power comes great responsibility. With your ads all over buildings and the internet, again, come great responsibility. There IS something wrong when a company in a any country chooses to objectify women (and men) with sexual images.. period. I don’t care how many people do it and how many companies’ ads involve it. Pointing it out is, universally speaking, not wrong.
And for all of you who say you don’t care if people choose to use drugs like cocaine, you should think twice about such a statement. Too many people’s lives have become completely fucked because of cocaine. And trust me, I am a counselor and deal with addicts frequently. Any person who promotes it (or even condones it), is, objectively speaking, an ignorant individual who shouldn’t be communicating with groups larger than 2 at a time (i.e., not the internet, not blogs, not billboards, etc.).
I’m not quite sure why anyone would expect American Apparel to be something that it’s not, nor ever claimed to be. How about this little nugget:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2005/06/24/notes062405.DTL
But then again, this might open up a whole new can of worms…
what’s number one on your list? your life? hah.. I love American Apparel.. it’s the best thing fellow high school graddy Dov created.. a breath of rejuvenation
1970s Porno Outtakes. That’s what these girls look like. The CEO got in trouble for sexually harassing some of these girls and I think he jacked off in front of a female who was interviewing him. FYI, the company sucks and people where it because it makes them feel cool and not because they are doing anything for the betterment of mankind.
yeah i agree with everything this says too. i mostly hate the high prices and the elitists. but yeah still, i find myself wanting mostly every article of clothing they sell. i’m poor as fuck too (so i don’t have any AA stuff anyways) but it has nothing to do with their advertising. i have always been looking for this kind of clothing (tight simple and plain, and just fits very well) but i could never find it anywhere.. then i find AA just recently and they have everything, the only reason i haven’t bought stuff from them is that they are for rich people and i have no money. i’m a guy and i’m pretty skinny. maybe they just make good clothes for skinny people?
mmm I think whoever wrote this article and those that agree with it are the following:
i – irrate
ii- delusional
iii- ultimately jealousy
iv – hypocritical.
Don’t have people for AA, they probably think you suck balls for sporting famous stars and straps or Macbeth. By hating you’re not better than them and so what if they have traditions or rituals in their lifestyles and clothing? Why hate – get on and live your life.
This article is just teenage angst that mummy wouldn’t buy them the $39 white t-shirt. Get over it.
Irate (just one r) – yes.
Delusional – yo I’m fucking insane.
Ultimately jealousy (this has to be grammatically incorrect) – of a clothing brand? No.
Hypocritical – I guess.
I don’t know what stars and straps or Macbeth are. I’m not a teenager, I’m full of angst though.
Thanks for writing! You’re an idiot.