Fries or Girls: Culture Jamming Abercrombie & Fitch

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1 Strachan 1 Fries or Girls: Culture Jamming Abercrombie & Fitch Rylan Strachan UCID: Coms371: Critical Media Studies Dr. Jessalynn Keller T.A. Alora Paulsen February 25th, 2017

2 Strachan 2 The field of critical media studies is a paradox. Nothing is quite what it seems and, more often than not, it contains layers of meaning and interpretation. This phenomena is explained by the concepts of denotation and connotation. A text may have a easily recognizable primary signification (the denotation), but can be accompanied by a more obscure or subtle secondary signification (the connotation). Media activism such as culture jamming is useful for critiquing the connotation of an original text by manipulating the denotation. Ultimately, [jammers] utilize a wide variety of tactics to destabilize and challenge the dominant messages of multinational corporations and consumer capitalism (Warner 2007, 18-19). In other words, culture jamming offers a detournement of the original text. Examining the discontinued lifestyle magazine A&F Quarterly, specifically a cover photo from a 2002 issue, offers an opportunity to evaluate secondary signification. Figure A portrays the original brand imaging and messaging of youth and sex, which can be examined for elements of hegemony, while Figure B is a culture jam of the original, which challenges the connotation of the original by borrowing ideas from the Birmingham Centre. Original Advertisement When asked who the ideal consumer of Abercrombie & Fitch was, former head of the company Mike Jeffries said, the A&F guy is the best of what America has to offer: He s cool, he s beautiful, he s funny, he s masculine, he s optimistic (Denizet-Lewis 2006, para. 2). The history of A&F Quarterly is, [a] history of orgies and pictures of chiseled, mostly white, all- American boys and girls (but mostly boys) cavorting naked on horses, beaches, pianos, surfboards, statues and phallically suggestive tree trunks (Denizet-Lewis 2006, para. 21). The A&F guy is exactly what is offered in Figure A. The cover of the soft core styled magazine

3 Strachan 3 A&F Quarterly, features a half-naked male with a toned muscular body, posed in a sexualized fashion, within a sepia colour pallet (Weber 2002). The connotation layer of Figure A, reveals the ideology of Abercrombie & Fitch, supports Marxist ideas of hegemony and demonstrates the resulting powerlessness of a consumer. Figure A is a primary example of the overarching ideology of A&F by circulating the ideas of the corporation, in which their texts and practices skew reality (Storey 2015, 2). By showing the model in Figure A not wearing clothes, the magazine implies that the beauty of their clothes is derived from the ideal body type. This is further cemented when considering that A&F doesn t offer women s XL or XXL clothing (Lutz 2013, para. 6), therefore; correlating their clothes to the body type of their models. A&F Quarterly covers, such as Figure A, can be seen as ideological forms outlets to present a specific reality (Storey 2015, 3). More specifically, by placing the cover photo in a sepia colour pallet, the ideological form links current A&F with timeless beauty by replicating the colour pallet of early photography. A&F Quarterly is also a textbook example of Marxist hegemony, presenting its own particular interests as the general interests of the society as a whole" (Storey 2015, 83). Since A&F Quarterly is a sexualized lifestyle magazine, Figure A promotes that their clothing will bring the consumer closer to a perpetuated sexualized experience. This claim is bolstered when considering, for many young men, to wear Abercrombie is to broadcast masculinity, athleticism and inclusion in the cool boys club without even having to open their mouths (Denizet-Lewis 2006, para. 17). Ultimately, Figure A illustrates A&F s organic intellectual, where a sect in society (the conventionally beautiful) has the right to make decisions (Storey 2015, 85). In contrast to A&F s organic intellectual, the masses of girlcotting high school feminists, humourless Asians, angry

4 Strachan 4 shareholders, thong-hating parents, lawsuit-happy minorities, nosy journalists, copycat competitors or uptight moralists have no right to an opinion (Denizet-Lewis 2006, para. 12). Jammed Advertisement In 2013, The Globe And Mail produced an article examining the controversy of conventional beauty surrounding A&F. The article mentions that a thread on the popular website, Reddit, was created, claiming the former head of A&F, Mike Jeffries, was too ugly to work at his own company. The thread exceeded over three thousand comments in just a few days (Krashinksky Robertson 2013, para. 8). Much like the critical Reddit thread, the previously mentioned activism of culture jamming is capable of challenging the dominant norms of capitalist culture. Figure B borrows heavily from the original ad it critiques. The jammed advertisement utilizes the colour pallet of the original, along with the half naked muscular body of the model, including his pose. The figure deviates by substituting the model s face for a average nerd and adding the text, they told me it was french fries or girls next to his body. Figure B, exemplifies the encoding and decoding interaction of a consumer purposed by the Birmingham Centre. Media text interaction is two fold: First, the message of the text is intended and created, but secondly, the consumer must interpret the text in turn, influencing the way society functions (Barlow and Mills 2013, ). Subsequently, Figure B is trying to prevent the consumer from naively accepting the intended message. The notion of youthful beauty and sex presented should be considered the naturalized dominant code, the intended message of the text that people mistakenly see as the real world (Barlow and Mills 2013, ). Figure B exploits the exclusionary dominant code of A&F by featuring the face of a non-conventionally beautiful model (Manoljlovic 2016). By representing the disenfranchised

5 Strachan 5 masses, Model B depicts the kids who are starving themselves and don t feel worthy of A&F because of their original bodies (Denizet-Lewis 2006, para. 34), breaking the naturalized interpretation of A&F. Furthering the contrast between idealized beauty standards and reality, the jammed advertisement employs the identical colour pallet, suggesting that body shaming is just as timeless as A&F s beauty. The additional text beside the model illustrates the oppositional code available to consumers, where one expresses code interpretation counter-culturally (Barlow and Mills 2013, 256). Originally, A&F would ask the viewer to see Model A as sexy and perfect, but by suggesting the model gave up food for sex, and simultaneously exaggerating the claim by leaving his hand on his stomach, the text now signifies extreme sacrificial beauty. The shift from sexualized model to starving post-nerd, contrasts the decoding of Figure A from B and satirically views the connotation of A&F Quarterly. According to the Frankfurt School, culture was meant to critically analyze the world and offer a idealized possibility for the future (Barlow and Mills 2013, 89). In accordance to Frankfurt School s opinion of culture, Figure B satirically critiques the current state of fashion capitalism, and challenges the passive, sheep-like consumers that accept A&F Quarterly as realistic aspirations of fashion and beauty. The messaging of Figure B, ultimately urges consumers to reevaluate the A&F brand s standards of beauty, and force continual change in conjunction with the pressure the company has already received to no longer feature sexualized marketing and [to stop] the practice of using shirtless models or lifeguards at events and store openings (McGregor 2015, para. 2). Conclusion Critical media scholars must be meticulous when assessing the countless meanings and interpretations of media texts and artifacts. It is not enough to simply rely on the surface meaning

6 Strachan 6 of any given text, but to investigate apparent connotative meanings. At first glance, A&F Quarterly, and A&F as a whole, is a lifestyle clothing brand, but below the surface a message reads, we go after the cool kids. 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 (Denizet-Lewis 2006, para. 24). Figure A, is saturated with underlying ideological messages of organic intellectuals perpetuated by hegemonic strategies. Critical media studies coupled with media activism such as culture jamming (Figure B) allows the assessment and critique of secondary signification, offering alternative interpretation of texts through strategies such as the oppositional code of the Birmingham Centre.

7 Strachan 7 References Barlow, David M., and Brett Mills Reading Media Theory: Thinkers, Approaches & Contexts. New York: Routledge. Denizet-Lewis, Benoit The man behind Abercrombie & Fitch Salon, January 24. Accessed February 17, Krashinksky Robertson, Susan Fat or ugly? Abercrombie & Fitch doesn t want you The Globe And Mail, May 10. Accessed February 16, Lutz, Ashley Abercrombie & Fitch Refuses To Make Clothes For Large Women Business Insider, May 3. Accessed February 16, Manoljlovic, Nemanja. Average guy flexing. Digital image. MyCity-Web Accessed February 16th, McGregor, Jena Abercrombie & Fitch says it will stop hiring workers based on body type or physical attractiveness The Washington Post, April 24. Accessed February 16, abercrombie-fitch-says-it-will-no-longer-hire-workers-based-on-body-type-or-physicalattractiveness/?utm_term=.4b068e49c42c Storey, John Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. New York: Routledge. Warner, Jamie Political Culture Jamming: The Dissident Humor of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Popular Communication 5(1):17-36 Weber, Bruce. Cover of A&F Quarterly. Digital image. Mulpix Accessed February 16th,

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Critical approaches to television studies

Critical approaches to television studies 1. Introduction Robert Allen (1992) How are meanings and pleasures produced in our engagements with television? This places criticism firmly in the area of audience