Demagogue

I truly love stories like this one. A Pittsburgh non-profit community organization for young women has launched a "girlcott" of Abercrombie & Fitch's latest sexist t-shirt trend.

The two dozen or so girls, participants in the Allegheny County Girls as Grantmakers program, are calling for a "girlcott" of Abercrombie & Fitch stores until the targeted shirts are no longer sold.

Some examples of the bimbo-promoting t-shirt slogans include:

"Who needs brains when you have these?"

"Blondes Are Adored, Brunettes Are Ignored."

"I'm too pretty to do math."

"No Money, No Car, No Chance."

The best part is that it isn't adults saying t-shirts are offensive, it's the target audience that is rejecting them, calling them what they are-- demeaning.

At one point I found the t-shirt trend of slogans such as "spoiled brat" particularly appauling, especially since they're marketed to 'tweens and in my experience 11-year old girls don't need the encouragement. I also wasn't particularly fond of the "girls rule, boys drool" trend either, there's really no need to put down boys to boost girls. But this girls-are-nothing-but-eyecandy trend is far worse. What better way to counter this trend than to turn it around to empower young women?

Additionally, Amanda over at Pandagon also has a post on other feminist bloggers organizing against them as well.

Update:Wow, this didn't take long. Apparently they do care about bad publicity if it is coming from their target audience.

Retailer Abercrombie & Fitch said on Friday it would stop selling some of its T-shirts after a national boycott by teenage girls, who objected to slogans emblazoned across the shirts such as "Who needs brains when you have these?"

The teen-oriented apparel company, often criticized for its suggestive advertising featuring scantily-clad young models, did not specify which T-shirts it would pull but said in a brief statement that "We recognize that the shirts in question, while meant to be humorous, might be troubling to some."

Earlier this week, the Women & Girls Foundation of Southwest Pennsylvania launched a "girl-cott" of the store in protest over the T-shirts, launching an e-mail campaign and appearing on NBC's "Today" show to air their concerns.