Abercrombie & Fitch Controversial Homeless Campaign

Abercrombie & Fitch has become the target of a new social media campaign. Photo: Getty Images.

LA-based writer Greg Karber has launched a controversial social media campaign urging the public to donate unwanted Abercrombie & Fitch clothes to the homeless after the brand's CEO, Mike Jefferies, told press the label was "absolutely exclusionary" and solely aimed at "cool, good-looking" people.

Described as "appearance-obsessive", Jefferies added that he didn't want to create the image that "just anybody, poor people," can wear the brand's clothing.

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“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids...Candidly, we go after the cool kids," Jefferies was quoted as saying. "We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

Karber was so shocked by the comments that he made a short film in which he buys Abercrombie & Fitch pieces from a charity shop and gives them to homeless people. He then urges viewers to join his #FitchTheHomeless campaign via social media.

"Find all the Abercrombie & Fitch clothes you've mistakenly purchased, and give them to the homeless," urges Karber, who adds that he wants to make the brand "the world's number one" for poor people.

"When (the brand's) clothing is damaged, instead of donating it to the poor or unfortunate, they burn them," says Karber.

In response, Jefferies retracted his earlier comments, saying, "I sincerely regret that my choice of words was interpreted in a manner that has caused offence. A&F is an aspirational brand that, like most specialty apparel brands, targets its marketing at a particular segment of customers. However, we care about the broader communities in which we operate and are strongly committed to diversity and inclusion."

However, Karber has since attracted criticism over the campaign, with the LA Times calling his approach "off-key if not tone deaf".

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"I applaud the urge to stick it to an obnoxious retailer, but this comes close to mocking a group of people who have no dog in the fight," said the paper.

"After all, the goal is not to give Abercrombie-style cachet to people who are among society’s neediest. The unspoken “joke” in the video is that the homeless are irredeemably uncool. The goal is to rub Jeffries’ nose in his misguided thinking, to devalue his product. Using homeless people to do that is a very uncool way to go."