Actually, there are more than 2 offensive t-shirts they're selling. There are a total of 5 t-shirts that I personally find offensive as an Asian American, Buddhist woman.
1. Pizza Dojo: Eat in or Wok Out
2. Cameron Pin-up - this one depicts a topless woman with yellow skin with a dragon in the background
3. Buddha Bash: Get your Buddha on the Floor (this one has a ridiculous representation of Buddha and Chinese characters)
4. Wok and Bowl (with man in Rice hat bowling)
5. 2 Wongs make it White (laundry t-shirt)

If you want to take a look at them, you can find them under "men's graphic t-shirts".

Oh, commodification of Asian cultures... Is it exchange/promotion of culture, and I'm just overreacting? Or is it bastardization, misrepresentation, commodification of culture, and downright racist? I'm going with the latter.

In case you want to contact execs at Abercrombie, here are the respective regional district managers:
NORTHEAST: liz_agnew@abercrombie.com
SOUTHEAST: mark_sarajian@abercrombie.com
MIDWEST/WEST: peter_nagle@abercrombie.com
CHICAGO: greg_wynne@abercrombie.com
SAN FRANCISCO: janelle_homer@abercrombie.com

This in from another e-mail list, it looks like ridiculing Asians has gone mainstream.

Please do not support Abercrombie & Fitch and mail in your complaints!

www.abercrombie.com

Is there anything more we can do than just email our complaints. I was shocked that this company could be so tasteless.

I say go to your nearest store and speak with the manager. If he/she doesn't cooperate then bring in local media. I'm going today and will use the "well you wouldn't sell t-shirts with African-Americans picking cotton." I've used it before. (Why is it that every Asian American has to make African-American references? Am getting tired of color consciousness through black/white lenses.)

I've pasted an article from Political Circus, with outrageous comments from A&B. They thought that Asians would enjoy the t-shirts. Read below.

I've also pasted some comments from another APA list..

L.L.

Just watched the evening news on NBC (Seattle feed - King-5) and there was feature story on the Abercrombie and Fitch ordeal. The heads of the company are meeting tomorrow to "discuss" what course of action will be taken re: the shirts. Also, a spokesperson for the company issued an apology, although his comment that they meant to inject "humor and levity" into the line didn't fly with me. Also, their excuse that they have previously poked fun at "skiers, college students, Irish-Americans and Native-Americans" just made matters worse.

Interestingly enough, Abercrombie and Fitch's clothes are manufactured by the Esquel Group of Companies, which is based in *Hong Kong* (details at http://www.chamber.org.hk/hkdir/r_detail.asp?single=true&cb=HKE0241).

Wonder what the workers in the garment factories thought about their products???

Sigh. I have been ranting about this all day.

J.L.

____________________
J.L.
BA, 2003
University of British Columbia joiy@interchange.ubc.ca

Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts Set-Off Asian Americans (By RPG Newswire)

http://www.politicalcircus.com/archive/article_700.shtml

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA (RPG Newswire) - Students at Duke University and across the nation are fuming over a series of T-shirts recently being sold by popular clothier Abercrombie & Fitch. The T-Shirts feature caricatured faces with slanted eyes and rice-paddy hats.

"For the moment, I'm just really shocked and offended," said Nancy Lee, a student at Duke University. "I really want some type of action to take place."

One of the T-shirts depicts two Asian American males with signage that reads, "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White." The two caricatures are stereotypical images of Asian Americans dating back decades to when Chinese Americans were limited to manual labor jobs like laundering.

Other T-shirts read, "Wok-N-Bowl -- Let the Good Times Roll – Chinese Food & Bowling," and "Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash -- Get Your Buddha on the Floor."

The company, based in New Albany, Ohio, is most popular among young and affluent teens.

"We personally thought Asians would love this T-shirt," said Hampton Carney, with Paul Wilmot Communications in New York, the public relations firm handling the Abercrombie account.

Students at Dartmouth University and Stanford University are already beginning to organize a possible protest or boycott against the clothing company.

"So many Asian Americans patronize Abercrombie & Fitch," said Sharon Reyes, a student at University of California - Los Angeles. "If we all stopped by from them, they might begin to listen."

Corporate Overview
Abercrombie & Fitch
Mailing Address: 6301 Fitch Path, New Albany, OH 43054
Telephone: (614) 283-6500
Website: http://www.abercrombie.com
Email: abercrombie@abercrombie.com

------------------------------------------------------------

PoliticalCircus.com is your free daily resource for national, non-partisan Asian Pacific American political news & information.

Here's another e-mail with links to the t-shirts. I've tried to visit them online but it looks like A&B pulled them off. Though, the Rick Shaw shirt or "Minimum Wage" shirt is tilled posted in the men's section.

The shirts have been pulled off of the shelves at my local store, good luck dealing with the stores near you.

I would add to this note below that A&B invest in diversity and multicultural training. Unbelievable that shirts like these would go from conception to full production and yet no one batted an eye to the obvious racism.

L.L.

From Dartmouth

BIAS INCIDENT ALERT!
Let ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH know that this is not funny but harmful
__________________________

This morning I received several emails from the Dartmouth community (thank you all for being proactive) about a national bias incident involving the Abercrombie and Fitch shopping website.

They are selling five t-shirts that feature stereotypical, disrespectful, and VERY troubling images and statements regarding people of Chinese/Polynesian/Asian descent and the Buddhist religion. I believe that these t-shirts reinforce a dangerous message that it is socially acceptable to make fun of and commercializes someone’s culture, racial group, profession, and religion. This isn't just about people of Asian descent- it impacts us all because it says that stereotypes in general are acceptable!

Here is a brief outline of what the t-shirts say and includes the website information-

* One features two Chinese men stereotypes with the statement "Wong Brothers Laundry- Two Wongs Can Make It White"

http://www.abercrombie.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=52&pr

rfnbr=13500479

* Another has a non-authentic picture of Buddha and says "Buddha Bash-Get your Buddha on the Floor".

http://www.abercrombie.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=52&prr

fnbr=13500451

* The third one features a stereotype of a Chinese man holding a pizza. It says "Pizza Dojo" (has a quote I can't read) and then says "Eat In or Wok Out".

http://www.abercrombie.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=52&prr

fnbr=13500266

* The fourth one says "Tiki Golf: Mini Golf and Pub- A hole in one slants the fun".

http://www.abercrombie.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=52&pr

rfnbr=13500475

* The fifth one features another Chinese male stereotype bowling. It says "Wok-N-Bowl: Chinese food and bowling"

http://www.abercrombie.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=52&prr

fnbr=13500478

WHAT CAN YOU DO? Here are just a few suggestions. Let's keep the dialogue going.

1) Contact me (Nora Y) ASAP if you are interested in organize around this so that we can discuss ways to let this clothing company know that this is harmful. A & F s a big company so I really think that we need to organize and think through strategies first before we act.

2) Send this email to anyone (on and off campus) that you know to raise awareness and encourage them to do something pro-active about this.

3) Consider ways that you individually and/or a group can protest A & F.

4) Consider calling the local A & F store in your hometown (if there is one) and tell them why this is harmful and that you won't shop there if they order this type of merchandise.

5) Consider approaching someone who is wearing the shirt to tell them why you think it is harmful. Use it as an educational moment.

6) Use this as a learning moment and write an OP-Ed in the D to help the entire Dartmouth Community understand why these types of stereotypes can really be dangerous even if they are meant as a joke.

7) Keep the dialogue going- have individual or group discussions with your roommate, siblings, parents, friends, hall mates, etc. about this issue. Talk about how this makes you feel and why it is harmful?

Again- let me know your thoughts and if you would like to organize.

N.Y.

Advisor to Asian and Asian American Students

From: ctn
Subject: [VWF] SF Gate: ABERCROMBIE & GLITCH/Asian Americans rip retailer for stereotypes
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 10:29 –0700

They took most of the designs off their website

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Someone who found it on SF Gate sent this article to you.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/04/18/MNSHIRT.TMP

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, April 18, 2002 (SF Chronicle)
ABERCROMBIE & GLITCH/Asian Americans rip retailer for stereotypes on T-shirts
Jenny Strasburg, Chronicle Staff Writer

Days after hitting store shelves, new Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts featuring caricatured faces with slanted eyes and rice-paddy hats had Asian Americans in the Bay Area and beyond demanding a public apology from the retailer. The Midwestern clothier, who targets the young, affluent and active, said it was surprised by the mounting controversy over the T-shirt designs.

One has a slogan that says, "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White.” Besides the prominent lettering are two smiling Figures in conical hats harking back to 1900s popular-culture depictions of Chinese men.

"We personally thought Asians would love this T-shirt," said Hampton Carney, with Paul Wilmot Communications in New York, the public relations firm where Abercrombie referred a reporter's call.

"I wouldn't know how they could think that," said Austin Chung, 23, of Palo Alto, business manager for the quarterly Asian-focused magazine Monolid.

"Abercrombie & Fitch is producing popular culture, and they cater to the views of the majority. You have to ask yourself, who benefits, who gets empowerment, from these kinds of images? It denigrates Asian men." As word of the new T-shirts in Abercrombie stores spread yesterday among university students and on far-reaching e-mail lists, plans shaped up for a late-night meeting in a Stanford dorm lounge. The subject: What to do about the series of themed T-shirts the retailer-- known for edgy advertising and skin-bearing advertising – introduced Friday in stores and on its Web site, http://www.abercrombie.com

"Wok-N-Bowl -- Let the Good Times Roll -- Chinese Food & Bowling," one design reads, with a stereotypical image similar to the figures on the Wong Brothers shirt.

"Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash -- Get Your Buddha on the Floor," reads another shirt that shares display space in the youth-oriented, casual-clothing store.

'TRULY AND DEEPLY SORRY'

The shirts were designed to appeal to young Asian shoppers with a sense of humor, Carney told The Chronicle yesterday. The shirts were available for sale yesterday in the Abercrombie store at San Francisco Shopping Centre on Market Street. Whether they will remain on the shelves was unclear yesterday, the spokesman said.

"We are truly and deeply sorry we've offended people," said Carney, adding that he had spent much of the afternoon returning calls of complaint, many of them from Stanford students.

"We never single out any one group to poke fun at," Carney said. "We poke fun at everybody, from women to flight attendants to baggage handlers, to football coaches, to Irish Americans to snow skiers. There's really no group we haven't teased." Abercrombie might consider rethinking that approach when marketing to – or representing images of -- racial and ethnic groups, said Michael Chang, vice chairman of Stanford's Asian American Students' Association, organizers of last night's meeting on campus.

"It's really misleading as to what Asian people are," Chang said.

"The stereotypes they depict are more than a century old. You're seeing laundry service. You're seeing basically an entire religion and philosophy being trivialized." Abercrombie should apologize publicly, starting with a message from corporate headquarters, Chang said. The Asian students' association at Stanford yesterday was encouraging calls to the company.

EVEN STORE MANAGER SURPRISED

Chang said Stanford students who complained to individual Bay Area store managers quickly realized that was futile because the merchandise decisions were being made at a higher level.

Stanford senior BJ Lee, 21, said one store manager acknowledged even he had been surprised when the T-shirts arrived at his store.

"We tried to get them pulled, but we weren't successful," Lee said.

"Managers don't have authority." The online chat about Abercrombie doesn't stop at Stanford.

"This story is going around the whole Asian e-mail circle," said Kevin Choi, a 21-year-old student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who said the chorus of angry voices, was growing at MIT and near the campus. Some students’ organized public protests in front of Abercrombie stores, he said.

"I think they need to apologize, to make a public statement, but I also think they need to start looking at their whole strategy for how they portray people," Choi said. "Maybe it sells in the suburbs . . . but their whole national marketing image is buff, tanned male and female models without any Asian representation."

Last year, Abercrombie & Fitch caught flak from some activist groups, and even state governments, for what they viewed as sexually suggestive advertising campaigns and catalog photos. Sometimes that kind of publicity can help a retailer more than it hurts, said retail analyst Jennifer Black with Wells Fargo Securities in Portland, Ore.

"In all honesty, I think the controversy (over sexually charged advertising) is kind of a marketing thing -- the teens love it," and they're crucial to Abercrombie's customer base, Black said. But pushing controversial racial or ethnic depictions is different, said Black, who added that the best damage control might be "to come out with an immediate apology."

COMPANY TO DISCUSS RESPONSE

Carney said company executives would discuss a formal response today to the complaints they had received. He said he did not know how many of the T-shirts had been distributed or whether they had reached stores in all regions yet.

"They're part of a fashion line that moves in and out of stores," he said. Abercrombie, a company that started with one small New York City outdoors store and factory in 1892, sold $1.36 billion worth of upscale clothing, accessories, shoes and related casual merchandise in the fiscal year that ended in February. The heavily mall based retailer has headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.

E-mail J.S. at jstrasburg@sfchronicle.com

Someone who found it on SF Gate sent this article to you.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2002/04/18/financial1504EDT0222.DTL

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, April 18, 2002 (AP)
Abercrombie & Fitch pulls Asian caricature T-shirts
DEBORAH KONG, AP Minority Issues Writer

(04-18) 14:16 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --

Clothier Abercrombie & Fitch is pulling a line of T-shirts that Triggered protests from Asian groups who said they reinforced negative stereotypes. The T-shirts, some of which show smiling men with slanted eyes and conical hats, will be pulled from all of the company's 311 stores in 50 states, company spokesman Hampton Carney said Thursday.

"We're very, very, very sorry," Carney said. "It's never been our intention to offend anyone." Carney could not say how many of the T-shirts were already in stores, or how much the recall would cost the New Albany, Ohio-based casual sportswear company. The T-shirts, which went on sale in some stores Friday for $24.50, also will be removed from sale on the company's Web site, Carney said.

"These graphic T-Shirts were designed with the sole purpose of adding humor and levity to our fashion line," Carney said.

"Since some of our customers have been offended by their content, we are pulling these shirts from our stores." A group Asian-American activists in Northern California still planned to protest in front of the company's downtown San Francisco store Thursday evening, said community organizer Jane Kim. Others were circulating e-mails, urging people to complain.

"It's great that they're removing them so quickly," Kim said, but "a lot of damage has already been done in terms of the negative and racist cartoon images they put out on Asian-Americans."

One of the company's T-shirts reads "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White." The T-shirts prompted a late-night meeting of Stanford University students Wednesday. The Asian American Students' Association encouraged calls to the company and said Abercrombie & Fitch should apologize.

"It's really misleading as to what Asian people are," Michael Chang, vice chairman of the student organization, told the San Jose Mercury News.

"The stereotypes they depict are more than a century old. You're seeing laundry service. You're seeing basically an entire religion and philosophy being trivialized."

One shirt features a smiling Buddha figure with the slogan "Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash -- Get Your Buddha on the Floor." Another reads "Wok-N-Bowl - Let the Good Times Roll -- Chinese Food & Bowling."

Carney said the company received about 60 phone calls Wednesday about the shirts. The company makes fun of everyone, Carney said, noting its previous clothing designs have included foreign waitresses, taxi drivers and Britons. Abercrombie & Fitch's advertising campaigns have come under fire before.

Last year, women's organizations and conservative politicians rallied against the company for its ads featuring young, barely clad models in sexually suggestive poses.

From: L.N. Subject: [VWF] Abercrombie & sweatshops Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 17:12:59 -0700

Some important stuff to inform our analysis of this whole Abercrombie thing...

Sorry to clog your email box with more...let's also keep in mind the exploited labor issue...it's all connected.

------------------------------------------------------

Today the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the furor over Abercrombie & Fitch's racist t-shirts (see article below). The Chronicle reports that the retailer is discussing a formal response today. Please continue to contact the retailer demanding

1) an apology for the offensive t-shirts and

2) that they settle the Saipan sweatshop lawsuits which would help ensure that the young Asian immigrant women who labor in Saipan garment factories are treated fairly. While 19 retailers have settled these lawsuits, A&F is among a handful of retailers who have refused so far. More info at http://www.sweatshopwatch.org/marianas.

Phone: 888-856-4480
Web: http://www.abercrombie.com

You can also take the Chronicle's online survey to express your opinion about the t-shirts: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/04/18/MN109646.DTL

Solidarity,

Nikki Fortunato Bas
Sweatshop Watch

An adoptive mother and activist were able to track down the head PR guy, Mr. Hampton Carney. Here's her note and most importantly, his direct phone number for the sweatshop activists, etc.

"He said that all of the t-shirts have been pulled from the store shelves nation-wide today!! He also told me that there would be a press release in tomorrow's newspapers with an apology to the Asian-American community. I spoke with him at: 212-206-7447."

From: M.T.
Subject: RE: [VWF] Abercrombie & sweatshops
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 09:50:27 –0400

Hi Linh,

That's great! Thanks to you!

From: ctn
Subject: [VWF] SF Gate: Abercrombie & Fitch pulls T-shirts, but Asian-Americans still pro
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 10:04 –0700

Someone who found it on SF Gate sent this article to you.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2002/04/19/state0328EDT0021.DTL
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, April 19, 2002 (AP)
Abercrombie & Fitch pulls T-shirts, but Asian Americans still protest
DEBORAH KONG, AP Minority Issues Writer

(04-19) 00:28 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --
After receiving dozens of complaints from Asian-Americans, Abercrombie & Fitch pulled a controversial line of new T-shirts from its shelves. Chanting, "Racist fashion's got to go," more than 100 people protested Thursday outside a downtown store. The shirts, including one depicting two slant-eyed men in conical hats and the slogan "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make it White, "went on sale Friday. The company was removing the T-shirts from all of the company's 311 stores in 50 states, company spokesman Hampton Carney said Thursday.

"We're very, very, very sorry," Carney said. "It's never been our intention to offend anyone." But the protesters said that wasn't enough. They read a list of demands they intend to deliver to the company.

"It's unacceptable for them to smear and continue to perpetuate racist stereotypes of Asian-Americans," said Ivy Lee, 30, an attorney at Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach. "They wouldn't do the same for any other ethnic groups. We need a public apology for Asian-Americans who buy a lot of their goods." The protesters also demanded the company publish a public apology in four major newspapers, increase philanthropy and investment in the Asian community and hire consultants to ensure sensitivity on Asian issues. They also asked the company to develop an ad campaign with positive images of minorities and encourage customers to return the T-shirts for a refund.

"The fact they put it on the shelves is an insult to the Asian-American community," said Alameda resident Peter Ho, as he marched outside the store carrying a sign that read, 'Don't support racism. Don't shop at Abercrombie & Fitch.' "To have them think this is just a fashion statement is just a slap in the face."

Activists in other parts of the country were also urging people to call or write the company to complain. Some asked people to boycott stores. Carney could not say how many of the T-shirts would be pulled from stores, or how much the recall would cost the New Albany, Ohio-based casual sportswear company. The T-shirts, which went on sale in some stores Friday for $24.50, also were removed from the company's Web site, Carney said.

"These graphic T-shirts were designed with the sole purpose of adding humor and levity to our fashion line," Carney said.

One of the company's T-shirts features a smiling Buddha figure with the slogan "Abercrombie and Fitch Buddha Bash -- Get Your Buddha on the Floor." Another reads "Wok-N-Bowl -- Let the Good Times Roll – Chinese Food & Bowling."

The protesters, who included former city Supervisor Mabel Teng and Stanford University students, said the T-shirts are particularly hurtful because they poke fun at a period in history when laundry and restaurant work were among the few employment opportunities available to Asians because of discrimination.

Carney said the company received about 60 complaints Wednesday about the shirts. Abercrombie makes fun of everyone, Carney said, noting the company's previous clothing designs have included football coaches, snow skiers and Irish-Americans. Carney said he didn't know yet how the company would respond to the activist’s demands. Abercrombie is now concentrating on getting shirts off the shelves, he said.

But Christine Chen, executive director of the Organization of Chinese Americans, said she plans to e-mail several thousand Asian Americans asking them to check that shirts are removed from stores, and to voice their opinions to Abercrombie.

"I don't want them to think it was only 60 people that were complaining," Chen said of the company.

"It was really a larger, broader community that's concerned with this issue."

Michelle Myers, who lives outside of Philadelphia, Pa., said she would ask students in her Asian-American literature and history class, and audiences who attend her spoken word performances, to boycott Abercrombie stores.

"As an Asian-American person, I'm just tired of being constantly disrespected by mainstream corporations and businesses," said Myers, 30.

In Minneapolis, Minn., Bao Phi, 27, is telling people to boycott Abercrombie until it pledges that such designs won't be repeated.

"The fact is, they've already made money out of our exploitation," Phi said. "We have to hold the company accountable."

It's not the first time the company, which targets college students, has come under fire. Last year, women's organizations and conservative politicians rallied against it for its ads featuring young, barely clad models in sexually suggestive poses.

Still, Mabel Kuupua Kim said the new T-shirts didn’t bother her.

"I think they're funny," said Kim, 52, who was buying shirts with a picture of a slant-eyed man carrying a rickshaw and the slogan 'Good meat, quick feet' at a San Francisco store. "I'm sorry if some people are offended by it. I don't see it that way."

Thanks Chrysitie for the update!

I can't believe they only got 60 calls. If you have time please call Mr. Hampton Carney to bring that number up to really reflect our numbers and anger. And, to slide in the points on labor and cultural training.

212-206-7447

Also, it turns out that some stores still have the shirts available. Apparently not all of the stores received the memo or haven't checked for it... Be sure to ask friends across the country to check with their local stores and pass on Carney's number if the store managers protest.

Thanks!

It's uplifting to see my Asian sisters & brothers get mad about Abercombie & Fitch's racist t-shirts (I got a ton of fwds & calls 2 action). I hope that the sweatshop lawsuit that A&F is facing will get support too so when you are calling Harvey Carney ( A&F PR guy) tell him that A&F should stop exploiting Asian women in Saipan (or anywhere else) and stop its racist stereotyping.

Harvey Carney's personal # 212-206-7447

Also included below, I hope that folks will come & show their support for ending Israeli apartheid and genocide of Palestine civilians and ending US militarism in the Philippines, Korea, and elsewhere.

Sari 4 x-posts.
Peace with justice,
L.N.

---fwd msgs---
Abercrombie & Fitch today decided to pull its offensive line of T-shirts from its 311 stores around the country. (Associated Press article below) The retailer's decision will put an end to the racists stereotypes that the t-shirts were promoting, but Abercrombie & Fitch has not yet put an end to exploiting young Asian immigrant women sewing garments on the US island of Saipan. Workers and labor advocates have sued A&F and other retailers to end sweatshop abuses on Saipan. While 19 retailers have agreed to payments to the workers and an independent monitoring system that will prevent future abuses, A&F has not. Please continue to contact A&F to urge them to settle the Saipan sweatshop lawsuits.

A&F Phone: 888-856-4480
A&F Web: http://www.abercrombie.com
More info at http://www.sweatshopwatch.org/marianas.

Solidarity,
Nikki F. Bas, Sweatshop Watch

---fwd msg---
ANTI-WAR MARCH AND RALLY

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
MARCH AND RALLY AGAINST WAR AND RACISM

GATHERING POINT FOR FILIPINO CONTINGENT
24th St and Mission, SF
11:00 AM SHARP!!! WEAR RED!!!!

Filipino contingent will march to Dolores Park to join the A.N.S.W.E.R. mobilization (19th & Dolores, SF) 12 noon march to Civic Center 1 pm Rally

For more information on the coalition and/or our upcoming events you can contact us at 650.580.7382 pinoyactions@yahoo.com

U.S. OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES!!!
Filipino Coalition for Global Justice, Not War

Someone who found it on SF Gate sent this article to you.
The original article can be found on SFGate.com here:http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2002/04/23/eguillermo.DTL
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, April 23, 2002 (SF Gate)
Humoring Ethnic America: Abercrombie & Fitch Still Doesn't Get It
Emil Guillermo, Special to SF Gate

Here's how trendy I am. Before last week, my teenage daughter was telling me that the really fashionably hip kids at her suburban school shop at Abercrombie & Fitch.

Now, I realize Banana Republic doesn't sell bananas. And I know Old Navy actually sells "new" stuff. But I swear, I thought Abercrombie & Fitch still sold safari wear to wannabe colonial elites just like it did 100 years ago.

So I asked my daughter, "You mean spoiled, obnoxious teenagers these days want to dress up like Teddy Roosevelt?"

I found out that's true only if TR was into nouveau grunge. (Speak softly, but carry a big skateboard.)

Apparently, it's not your great-grandfather's A&F. But it's still marketing with a colonial mentality -- to the young.

How else could you explain those T-shirts the company both introduced into and pulled from stores last week?

The most offensive shirt featured two smiling, slant-eyed gents with pointy bamboo rice-paddy hats, presumably the proprietors of the Wong Brothers Laundry Service. Their motto: "Two Wongs Can Make it White."

Ha-ha. Oh, and, of course, there's the brand name of century-old Abercrombie & Fitch, purveyors of ethnic slur masquerading as in-your-face fashion, underneath it all.

It used to be said that society would be in full embrace of diversity once people figured out how to make money off of it. Boy, was I Wong! (There's that insidious A&F humor again).

Frankly, I admit to being stunned by the store's strategy here.

Can you really market to diversity with racism?

Someone at A&F's corporate headquarters in Ohio thought so. (Who was in the focus group? The KKK?) Of course, no one was willing to cop to a formal strategy. Which is why you hire a PR guy.

"We thought everyone would like these T-shirts," company spokesman Hampton Carney said to reporters. (Can't you just see his smiling white teeth?) And to think it launched just before Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May!

Carney claimed the company pokes fun at everyone, which really makes me afraid.

What's next?

"Kiss Me, I'm a Beaner" T-shirts for Cinco de Mayo?

How about a summer T-shirt showing two black guys eating fried chicken and watermelon?

You know the company would never do that. Not unless it were willing to subject itself to an outcry that would end up with A&F having to appoint Al Sharpton to be its next CEO.

But for some reason, Asian Americans (a group to which I, as a Filipino American, belong), have always been considered fair game.

I guess A&F figured, "Who's going to complain?"

Credit Asian-American students from Stanford, who reacted to the T-shirts first. Within a day, nearly every Asian American online had received at least an email on the subject. (I got several.) Protests and pressure ensued. The store pulled the shirts.

But here's the rub. Most of them had been sold before any phony act of contrition. What kind of apology has we here? The company got just about everything it wanted. Profit and notoriety.

And it gets off easy. Its stock wasn't hurt on the NYSE, and it is still on pace to sell over a billion dollars of merchandise for the year.

By pulling the shirts, A&F's just humoring Asian Americans. It's no skin off the company's bottom line. On balance, the whole episode probably cost it less than an ad campaign.

Meanwhile, there's already some backlash against Asian Americans, who are seen as anything but fierce champions of freedom, fighting racism wherever they find it. Instead, they're now being portrayed as humorless scolds--politically correct, even -- as if standing up for some moral principle could ever be considered wrong or shameful.

Hey, I can take a joke. Most Asian Americans can. But maybe what's needed here is an updated lesson on ethnic humor.

For example, if I want to call myself a slant-eyed laundry boy, that's okay. That's funny because it's self-deprecating. (Even President Bush is good at this style of humor, though sometimes unconsciously so. We don't just laugh at him because he's president.)

The beauty of self-deprecatory humor is that it gives people permission to laugh. It makes the teller the butt of the joke, and invites us all to be in on it.

But if a non-Asian makes references to Asians as caricatured slant-eyed laundry boys, then we have a problem. That's not self-deprecation. That's just denigration imposed by another. In the past, we'd recognize it as a form of cultural imperialism. That's what's at play here, especially if white, corporate A&F, as it claims, is really marketing to Asian Americans. This is its definition of the ethnic group. Hilarious, isn't it?

Even if you cut the company a little slack, you end up with A&F concurrently marketing racism to a mainstream, predominantly white 12- to 24-year-old demographic, most of whom weren't even around to know that America has already endured an era of derogatory, slant-eyed-Asian references in our culture. The store suddenly makes it OK for the culture.

Hey, two Wongs can make it right!

But do we really need a revival of images like that of Charlie Chan, a Chinese detective played by a squinty Caucasian actor? Of a servile Hop Sing of "Bonanza"? Of a bucktoothed Mickey Rooney in yellow face in "Breakfast at Tiffany's"? Is this the message diversity gives the corporate heads at A&F, that it's high time for a little old fashion racism?

And what about the handful of young Asian Americans who actually like the T-shirts? Too young to have experienced the racism of previous generations, many are just happy to see an Asian image on anything so "hip." They've fallen for it. Sadly, they're all too willing to go along with this fashion statement.

Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO, Michael Jeffries, didn't return my calls. But he should know that A&F's recycling of racist remnants for the youth market is no different than Joe Camel selling cancer to kids.

That's the real problem with the company's ploy. Sure, it pulled the shirts. But somehow I get the feeling that A&F still doesn't get it.

Emil Guillermo is a radio and TV commentator and the author of "Amok: Essays From an Asian American Perspective," winner of an American Book Award."

E-mail: emil@amok.com