Kevin Marshall's America
A&F's controversial "Triangle" (formerly push-up) for 8-year-olds.
Girls, ever wish you had more cleavage to show off? Want that sexy look on the beach? Looking for a bikini top that will emphasize your bust?
Also, are you eight years old?
Before you get upset, I’m every bit as grossed out as you are, and I’m not the one positing these questions.
Perennial d-bag clothing company and LFO lyric Abercrombie and Fitch recently unveiled a new item in their Abercrombie Kids catalogue: padded bikini tops for girls as young as 7 and 8 years old. The tops were originally labeled “push-up,” but have since been re-branded as “triangle tops” after numerous complaints and publicy outcry over the company’s attempt to cash in on the sexualization of children that nearly qualify as toddlers.
I can’t emphasize enough that the company’s only reaction was to simply re-name the top rather than take it off the market.
It’s one thing to market sex to teens. Sex has been marketed to teenagers in both subtle and brazen means for decades. There’s a line, however, where questionable marketing descends into pedophilia. That line is well above the age of eight. The fact that such a product so ethically despicable – borderline pedophilia, some would say – could go from conception all the way to the shelf speaks to a culture within the company itself that is, to put it kindly, completely braindead and devoid of rationale.
The only response from the company so far has been to re-name the tops. I’d love to hear from them, so I’ll pose this question both to them and to Kevin Marshall’s Americans (my readers), who can feel free to climb into the heads of A&F execs to answer the following question:
Abercrombie & Fitch: what the Hell are you thinking?
UPDATE 10:14am – reader HomeTown Girl was kind enough to get us the A&F CEO’s contact info:
Mr. Michael S. Jeffries
CEO
Abercrombie & Fitch
6301 Fitch Path
New Albany, OH 43054
United States
Phone: 614-283-6500
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50 Responses to Abercrombie & Fitch sells push-up bikini tops for eight-year-olds
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The Today Show did a piece on this bathing suit this morning featuring 2 doctors. The clothing line is targeted at 7-14 yr olds. When you think that 7 year olds are in 2nd grade it becomes even more disturbing. When a company is marketing sexuality to 7 year old little girls they’ve gone too far IMO. Disgusting!
Holy Bats#@t Batman! This is crazy. Ok, I’ve got to send the A&F execs a little note on this one. I hope those who normally shop at this store will re-think giving them any more of your money to market this stuff.
Mr. Michael S. Jeffries
CEO
Abercrombie & Fitch
6301 Fitch Path
New Albany, OH 43054
United States
Phone: 614-283-6500
Thanks, HomeTown Girl.
This is not new.. I know u aren’t a girl and wouldn’t know this but if u go into the little girls section of any store (walmart,kmart, etc) and check out the underwear section there are padded bras.. Im talking the 10 and under age group here.. Im sorry but MOST girls younger than 10 do not need a bra, especially a padded bra..It disturbs me every time i see it.. I cant believe there are parents that buy these for their little girls.. They have the rest of their lives to wear a bra.. Until then a undershirt works fine..
#5 is right, this is nothing new. And while it is disgusting, the parents have to take some responsibility at some point and not buy this stuff.
#5 & #6 – This product isn’t a training bra, it’s a bikini top. I indicated as such in the post itself, but made a typo (wrote “bra” instead of “top”) in the subject line. It’s fixed now.
First, I have to say that this is REALLY INSANE. Products like this a about as inappropriate as putting Sponge Bob on cigarettes.
THAT SAID – the parents are ultimately responsible for the purchase, or non-purchase of these items. If you think putting eye-liner on your 10 year old daughter is okay, you might be misguided enough to buy this too!!
I thought this product was basically sickening, but I tell you, I know I have seen enough IDIOT PARENTS who would buy this crap.
The free market should be that – free. Products brought to bear where demand is present.
The real problem here is the parenting going on today. OUR PEERS SUCK AT IT.
Right. And consumers should be free to boycott and complain.
Seeing this reaction on Twitter too. Yet nobody in this thread has even alluded to, let alone brought up, government intervention. Very odd.
I wasn’t talking about bras, I was talking about bikini tops. There are children in my family who have been wearing these type of bathing suits for years. Maybe they got them at A&F, who knows? Either way, it’s not new, and it’s gross.
I began wearing a bra at age 9 or 10. It all depends on your genetic pool and what you inherit, not necessarily rushing puberty or sexuality. I didn’t have a choice, I needed to wear a bra. And most training bras are at least lined, if not padded. A swimsuit? If it’s white, of course it should be lined or padded. Otherwise, the message is sends is obscene at best.
Nothing new. I remember a lo-ong time ago heading off to a day at kindergarten and my mom telling me to remember to put on my rubbers.
Lined is one thing, padded as in ‘push up’ is another. For 7 and 8 yr olds it is disgusting.
Did we really need another reason to avoid A&F? The company continues to revel in the ridiculous…
That’s sick… the FBI should confiscate A&F computers and check for kiddie porn. That’s just about what they’re selling. Not one item should get of the rack. I hope parents have more sense than that.
Maybe they can do a promo tie-in with that “Toddlers & Tiaras” show.
As long as parents allow teens to buy the disgusting clothing they sell at A & F , this type of disgusting stuff will continue…. put them out of buisness by not allowing your teens to by at the stores! Then maybe they will get the jest of it. Take charge…. what are you afraid of!
Kevin, why should there be gov’t intervention? I think the gov’t is too involved in everyday Americans personal lives as it is. Yes, this seems grotesque, but if parents are buying these for their own children, what action is the gov’t supposed to take? That’s a very slippery slope you’re walking if that’s what you’re suggesting should happen.
Flurries – Did not say there should be. Said it was odd that people kept saying “free market” in response to this blog post, even though nobody brought up government intervention.
Really? This is an issue? I mean, 12 year-old girls in So. California have been getting boob job’s for years now, why is this a surprise. Is A&F to blame, I don’t think so, they are just trying to turn a buck like every other greedy corporation in america. The media at large though, well … all I have to say is … Nice!
Nice -
So, like, is this something that’s actually happening or are you just making it up? Because it seems like you just totally made that up.
Also, you’re not the only one to bring up this point, but I’m going to pick on you for it:
But they totally are! If they know it’s really scummy and skeevy, and they sell something that’s really scummy and skeevy, that makes them totally scummy and skeevy.
I don’t know many 6-7-8-9 yr olds with jobs…So it’s the parents who have to but this stuff..If you’re a parent, buying this crap for your daughter, you are the one who needs to be investigated…Common sense and proper attire starts at home..Every major store sells garbage like this, and will continue; as long as Mom and Dad are buying/supporting it financially..Wake up!
I agree Kev, I don’t think that would be legal at all… probably child abuse actually.
I agree with you, Kevin. The executives at A & F have some weird ideas about children. As for the parents who buy push up bras for their elementary school-age daughters, I hope they plan on becoming very, very young grandparents.
this reminds me of when i went shopping for easter shoes for my then 15 month old daughter and came across baby/toddler lucite high heels. nothing summarizes the meaning of easter quite like a baby in stripper shoes.
cas - Ha!
And that reminds me of this:
Whew! I thought maybe you were going Stalin on me. He might have approved tho. I think scummy and skeevy is the appropriate phrase. For both A+F AND any parent who buys this for their kids.
If 12 yr old girls were getting boob jobs, wouldn’t the doctor’s lose their license? 16-17 maybe, 12? Not buying it.
Was it A&F that issued a calendar a few years back that had to be discontinued because it featured teenage models that were pretty much naked? Who owns that company, Larry Flynt?
No. Flynt used models that were of legal age.
Hey, everyone owes a debt of gratitude to Larry Flynt. Without his Campari ads, we probably wouldn’t be able to mock & parody people nearly as much as we do on a daily basis.
The reason everyone keeps saying “free market” is probably because automatically, every time someone sees something they don’t like they march to the capitol to have someone whip up some brand new regulation – to save us from ourselves.
It’s so automatic that it sickens me.
I suppose I mentioned free-market right off the rip, because I am a huge fan of personal choice. Good, bad or indifferent, people should be able to do what they want.
I am also in favor of a free market with no regulation or policing. I am also against widespread literacy and the refrigeration of food.
I agree Hal, I shall burn my refrigerator along with anything else that keep my food fresh.
I don’t like this either, but guess what? Nobody’s forcing anyone to buy one, or forcing 7 year olds to wear them. So if you’re 7 and offended, or have a seven year old daughter and are offended, shut the f*** up and don’t buy one. Do you really think a company will care about your scathing letters if they make money off of it? Yes, it’s questionable. Yes, it’s disgusting. But other people’s parenting decisions is simply not your problem, so if you don’t like it, don’t buy one. It’s REALLY easy.
Yeah, everyone! Shut the f*** up and stop being outraged at things that are awful and wrong!
I think some parents have a switch that’s set to “off” when it comes to what they buy their kids. They don’t seem to realize how trashy their kids look. Maybe it’s the whining and begging.
I was completely appalled by the ‘words on your butt fashion phase’. I guess it’s still going on…My butt gets enough attention without words on it and little girls really should not have their butts looked at at all.
Yeah, those triangle tops stay on for about 15 seconds in the water.
This post reminds me of the mother who gives her 8-year-old daughter botox injections.
http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-mother-gives-8-year-old-daughter-monthly-botox/
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/3485305/I-give-my-girl-8-Botox-for-pageant.html
The story made me sick. Little girls need to be little girls, not objects their parents can live vicariously through.
@ Megan:
Bet that money would have been better spent on some dental work.
The reason government has to step in (ie. Department of Social Services, etc.) is because sometimes parents don’t make the best choices for their children. Sometimes they are downright abusive. Children are unable to protect themselves when that happens and society/government has the responsibility to step in and do it for them when that happens. That’s why child pornography isn’t legal (even if parents make the choice for their children to allow it) or childhood sexual/physical abuse, etc. even when the parents are the perpetrators. As a therapist, I see it way too often. The question is not whether the government should step in, it’s where we draw the line and when the government should step in. Allowing 7/8yo to be exposed to advertising/clothing that makes them targets of pedophilia. I think it’s worth asking the question. At the very least, those of us who do get it can boycott companies that don’t.
well, it is a free market,you have to give the people what they want…in this case the people are either 45 yr old pedophiles or methed out wack-jobs or parents of little girls w/ too much make-up performing “Like a Virgin” on a stage in front of pedophiles…
makes me almost want to side with the Muslims on this whole “how my daughter should dress” issue. Break out the burkas.
DISCUSTING…i will be shopping else where from now on
worse yet…what mother would buy this for her daughter…whats next padded speedos for 8 yr old boys!?
When I lived and worked in NYC in the 1970s, I used to shop at Abercrombie & Fitch; sales only. It was one of those special Manhattan stores – exclusive, expensive, tasteful, exotic. It had only the very best items of a quality that could only be found in maybe three world-class cities.
What a downfall! Like Toyota, its fall from grace came with scuzzy management that decided to lose standards in favor of profits by appealing to the lowest common denominator.
The people who say “just don’t buy it” have little insight into the the marketing of products to children, how it preys on their insecurities. This is why people have to write letters and threaten boycotts to get rid of products and stores like this. It gets harder and harder to find children’s clothing that doesn’t sell Disney or have the brand logo all over it. They are trying to turn our kids into tools and it is working (look at all the people wearing 100$ “North Face” fleece we adults are tools too)
Laurie, BIG difference between padded bikini’s for 7 year olds and fleece for adults…
Need a word that is creepier than creepy. OK, this is just “ScottRitter”.
A & F has gone too far. They are obviously in the business of pimping out our kids for profit!
Don’t buy – America stand up! Have the guts to say no more pimping for profit!
Sick pedophiles.
omg people calm down its completely fine for teens to be wearing this stuff. children on the other hand probably wont even want to wear a push up and if they don’t want it or there parents don’t want it they don’t have to buy it. but ts completely fine for teens. stop having a cow over this stuff saying your gonna put them out of business. just calm down.
you will all i am sure want to burn me at the stake for letting my 5 year old dress up like katy perry for halloween, but we are past witch trials (or so i thought). drawing the line for sexuality is a personal choice. will you be making it illegal for couples to copulate in any other position than missionary? will you ban lip gloss on girls under 18? will you mutilate the face of a beautiful child to make her less tempting/threatening to others in society?
they used words that pressed your puritan buttons. the same bikini top without the descriptive words of “push up” would have been palatable if not preferred for having padding to protect the girls from having their nips showing.
free yourself from having to control and judge others for their parenting skills if they are not putting their child in harms way. or are you saying males have no control over their sexual urges? then maybe we should castrate them at birth? or maybe teach them respect for females at a very young age so they are able to reason and have self control. just sayin’…