Scholarship Awarded

Mike Jeffries, Chairman and CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch announced that the company would offer a college scholarship to high school students who persevere in the face of bullying, starting in 2014. This action comes from the resurfacing of old comments made to Salon Media Group made by Jeffries back in 2006. In an interview, he was quoted as saying that the Abercrombie brand is exclusionary to those who are perceived as the “cool” kids in school. This excludes anyone who may be overweight, old, or too skinny.
Benjamin O’Keefe, a critic of the Abercrombie & Fitch brand said that the anti-bullying campaign by Jeffries is “becoming the epitome of hypocrisy.” O’Keefe believes that it will take more on Abercrombie’s part to change the way the company is perceived. He said that he would like to see a public commitment from them to stock larger sizes for women as well as to include plus-sized models in its advertising.

Jefferies explained the policy in a different way to Salon back in 2006:

“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.”

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