billege

I hope to make this constructive criticism, and I hope you take it as such. However, it IS criticism. In a thread (so far) full of people agreeing with you, it may stand out as more negative than it is. Please read what I write from the constructive criticism, and slightly devil’s advocate point of view. Thank you.

I quoted you in parts to highlight where I have issues.

Let me start by saying I commend you for taking a public stand for something you believe in. That takes a brave person. Even though I seriously doubt this article had any impact, other than increased negativity towards you, the effort was worthwhile.
The impact you had, was I think, on people who already agree with you. The rest of the impact would be to make those that disagree with you do so more fervently, and take those that didn’t much care and put them against your point also.

Two little problems editorially: There is no such word as “mid-drift.” The word is “midriff,” or “The middle outer portion of the front of the human body, extending roughly from just below the breast to the waistline.”

If you’re going to buck heads with people in a publication, you’ve got to hold a high grammatical standard. The first thing people will do when they disagree with you is look for holes in your argument. Right or wrong, they will see mistakes in the text first. Then they’ll attack your intelligence and credibility with your own mistakes. They may not be right, but those tactics are very effective. Today’s media proves that. DO NOT GIVE them that easy out. You have to work harder to oppose the norm. No social crusader ever had it easy.

Second, the A&F catalogue did not have a XXX rating. This is a bad kind of mistake for you to make, because it’s blatantly false. If anyone wants to, they can call you a liar now. That is not going to help your point. The A&F catalogue you refer to DID have XXX printed on its wrapper, as much as an advertising push, as a warning. The thing is though, A&F put that there, NOT some government (or other) ratings agency. I can put XXX on my birthday card, but it doesn’t make it so.
The quarterly did have nudity, and it did have very sexually suggestive poses. But, it did not show intercourse, oral sex, or other actual sexual activates that would give such a rating.
While you make your point, you’d have to be prepared to discuss the definition of pornography (which is a whole other huge topic to tackle) since you’ve used that label. It’s not an accurate statement, and can/will lead some people to miss your main point.




Very early in your article you called your own audience, the people whose behavior you aim to change, “young adolescent girls too naïve to see they’re buying into the hype.”

Well, you just alienated your target. Whoops. As I’m sure you know, teens do not like to be called adolescent, and no one likes to be naïve.

You go on to remind everyone that people practice herd behavior, and generally try to be accepted by meeting whatever norm is there to meet. Okay, truth. But, few people actually think they go to extra effort to meet that norm. They also won’t likely admit during high school that they are doing it. And what age group, over just about all others, likes to think it’s being independent for the first time? The one you just said is completely absorbed in being sheep.

I’ve been to Old Navy and the Gap. Not a whole lot more conservative than A&F. Splitting hairs really. The clothes are very similar, even if the ads have a different focus.

You remind your audience again you feel they are sheep. Whoops. Then you insult their intelligence. Whoops.
I guarantee you that no girl who bought the $50 sweater did so with the actual intention of being just like everyone else. She thought it was cute. Now you’re telling her what her “real” motivation was, and you’re doing so sarcastically. She’s going to listen to you why, exactly? It’s not going to be because you made her feel stupid and defensive, that’s for sure.


“It’s high time our generation turns away from such filth and starts buying from stores that deserve profit.” Okay, good. Not many people will agree with you that suggestive poses are filth, but it’s a start. Why does a store deserve profit? You’re assuming we all agree on what makes a store deserving. This is what you should have started your article with, and spent the rest explaining why oversexuallizing young girls is “filth” and showing the audience who you feel deserves your $$.

The trick when explaining why you feel A&F doing that oversexuallizing is bad is the hard part. Most people your age are not going to agree that an A&F shirt showing some tummy is filth. Not going to happen. The ones that do see that, already agree with you, so they aren’t your target audience. A&F deliberately poses young people who don’t yet fully understand their sexuality, or the inherent responsibilities with it, in overly carefree extremely sexual pictures. They know that it turns hormonal kids on. They know it turns a lot of people on, and they know a lot of people will go into a rage and provide free publicity.

You need to explain in a rational, and yet emotionally touching way, why you feel our bodies deserve more dignity than cheap use as a marketing tool.

That’ll get people to see where you’re coming from.

Explain why you feel sex, especially in younger adults, is a serious and personal thing that is being exploited for profit, and you think that’s wrong. Tell them why you feel their approach to the market is wrong. Concentrate on the companies practices as wrong, don’t tell the ones buying the clothes they are sheepish fools for falling for it.

Don’t talk exclusively to girls either. The whole thing fails to give males any reason to not shop there. They know there are hot girls in A&F stores, and they know hot girls advertise A&F. Giving a teenage boy a strong enough moral reason to not want to support a source of hot girls isn’t going to be easy.

Changing human behavior is perhaps the hardest thing to attempt. You have to get in their heads, look at your words from their side, think hard about what you’re saying to someone wearing an A&F shirt. Make them feel that shirt is dirty, but not that THEY are dirty for buying/wearing it. Make them feel like NOW they know the dirty secret A&F had. Make them feel smarter than the sex for $$ ploy. Then you’ll make some change.

__________________
I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence:
"My Invisible Friend is better than your Invisible Friend."