Not So Subliminal

Most of the time, I am of the persuasion that clothes are clothes, and it’s not so much about what you wear, but how you wear it that makes it modest and appropriate. But sometimes you just have to make a point. This is one of those point-making times.  

The first time I ever heard about the brand, Ambercrombie and Fitch, I was 14. I was going to go to the mall with some friends, but before I left, my dad pulled me aside and informed me that if my friends and I went to this store, I wasn't to buy anything. He said they promoted "teenage promiscuity" and I wasn't allowed to wear that brand. Period. At the time, I didn't know what he was talking about. I mean who uses the word "promiscuity" in real life anyway? It didn't end up mattering, because the shopping trip got cancelled. My dad's instruction though, and the new word, "promiscuity" really spiked my curiosity. So, I filed it away to figure out later, and then, I forgot that any of that ever happened.

I forgot about it, until one day, not long after that, I walked into a thrift store that sold that particular brand. I remember nothing from the store except the poster with AMBERCROMBIE & FITCH plastered across it. I think it was supposed to make me think about buying their clothes, but I couldn't get past the fact that the models who were trying to sell me clothes weren't exactly wearing any. I assumed, at first, since the only clothes they were wearing were blue jeans, that maybe that's what they were selling. BUT...that assumption is a little hard to maintain when naked teenage six packs and side boobs are mashed together without any wedding rings in sight. Suddenly, a phrase from the past fell out of the files of my mind….I got it. “teenage promiscuity…”

Since then, I've seen plenty of ads, and they are all pretty much the same. There are ripped dudes posing with their jeans hugging their six packs in such a way as to draw attention to what you can't see. There are girls in swimsuits showing off their ribs and other things. There are jeans without t-shirts and players on 3rd base headed all the way home. It's pretty obvious that they're selling more than clothes. It was pretty obvious to my 14 year old brain that they were telling me, Cool kids are skinny. Cool kids are wild. Cool kids do wild things with other cool kids. Cool kids buy our clothes. 

Well, I'm cool, and I don't buy those clothes. For one thing, the CEO has a vendetta against "fat people" and doesn't carry much that I can wear. For another thing, the clothes are made for teenagers, and I'm not one anymore. More importantly, I don't buy Ambercrombie & Fitch because their ads send not-so-subliminal messages to teens to do things with each other that they don't have a license for.