It is often the case that we westerners hear that in the past, our actions were primitive, cruel, misogynist, racist, or offensive in some way. Usually, a promulgator of politically correct thought brings up the past to show where we are presently or where we are heading. Often, these people use the terms “modern” and “enlightened” to describe the PC narrative they advertise. However, I often find that rather than being enlightened or modern, the underlying and unspoken motif is primitive human resentment disguised as good.
Recently, there have been some news stories about Abercrombie and Fitch and its future direction. The company has had declining profits and several items of negative press attention for failing to rapidly conform its advertising to PC ideology. The brand is of course more of a teen brand but it is very well known and I think in some ways iconic of American fashion. I am not trying to promote them and have no concern for their future but I never had an issue with how they advertised, I thought it was brilliant. They advertised using sexy images such as muscular men and attractive women that conform to a sort of elite, US east coast, image.
They were under fire for doing this. A Muslim woman who was wearing a head dress while working filed a lawsuit for discriminating against her. As well, the CEO in the past has been known to say that he wanted the brand to be for attractive people, meaning, not fat people. This was part of the brilliance of their advertising. They made their clothes seem exclusive and they knew they could do this by using attractive sales people and images. Sex sells, anyone in touch with humanity would know this.
However, this attracted a lot of negative attention. Their declining profits, in my opinion, were not a result of a change in attitude about sexuality, but instead a relentless campaign to smear the brand as being hateful. As they now have a new CEO, reporters are picking up on their new sales strategy. They are giving up their sexy image, no longer hiring only sexy staff, and some people that opposed their old image are actually nostalgic for it. I may be reading too much but the nostalgia comes from a lingering desire. We desire attractive people, that doesn’t change, and so it certainly doesn’t change in just 5 years.
The new campaign, we are told, will aim to be more diverse and inclusive. The brand also began to sell plus size clothing in an attempt to generate more revenue. A combination of high prices while the economy stagnated or declined, rising obesity levels, and incredible hostility toward the brand for its inclusive advertising likely caused the decline in profits. But we are told instead that people have just become more enlightened from that bygone era of just a few years ago.
I don’t think sexuality has changed but I do think negativity can ruin a brand’s reputation. If Abercrombie and Fitch loses money, it doesn’t personally matter much to me. What does bother me is when people try to disguise their resentment as enlightenment. It is no surprise that the people that led the campaign against A&F were the people that did not fit the image. This is what people should be looking at. Rather than creating a narrative about old, outdated views being triumphed over by a new, modern, enlightenment, I think people should know that indeed attractive people are attractive and this is simply nature and won’t change so it is best not to give ourselves anxiety over it. The people that are championing “modern enlightened” views often suffer from indignation, resentment, and jealousy, some of the most ancient and primitive of negative human traits.
The old ways are correct. Sex sells, and attractive people are attractive. Enlightenment is seeing reality, not trying to hide it. This is often the case with PC messages, that they are resentment disguised as enlightenment.
Wordsmouthwick Court 