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Fries or Girls:

Culture Jamming Abercrombie & Fitch

Rylan Strachan

UCID: 30032150

Coms371: Critical Media Studies

Dr. Jessalynn Keller

T.A. Alora Paulsen

February 25th, 2017

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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

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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

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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, 228-231). 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,

241-252). 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

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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

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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.

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References

Barlow, David M., and Brett Mills. 2013. Reading Media Theory: Thinkers, Approaches & Contexts. New York: Routledge.

Denizet-Lewis, Benoit. 2006. “The man behind Abercrombie & Fitch” Salon, January 24. Accessed February 17, 2017. http://www.salon.com/2006/01/24/jeffries/

Krashinksky Robertson, Susan. 2013. “Fat or ugly? Abercrombie & Fitch doesn’t want you” The Globe And Mail, May 10. Accessed February 16, 2017. http:// www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/fat-or-ugly- abercrombie-fitch-doesnt-want-you/article11853840/

Lutz, Ashley. 2013. “Abercrombie & Fitch Refuses To Make Clothes For Large Women” Business Insider, May 3. Accessed February 16, 2017. http:// www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-wants-thin-customers-2013-5

Manoljlovic, Nemanja. “Average guy flexing.” Digital image. MyCity-Web. 2016. Accessed February 16th, 2017. http://www.mycity-web.com/what-are-realistic-fitness- goals-for-the-average-person/

McGregor, Jena. 2015. “Abercrombie & Fitch says it will stop hiring workers based on ‘body type or physical attractiveness’ ” The Washington Post, April 24. Accessed February 16, 2017. https:// www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2015/04/24/ abercrombie-fitch-says-it-will-no-longer-hire-workers-based-on-body-type-or-physical- attractiveness/?utm_term=.4b068e49c42c

Storey, John. 2015. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. New York: Routledge.

Warner, Jamie. 2007. “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. 2002. Accessed February 16th, 2017. https://mulpix.com/post/1202971251946767953.html

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