In 2003, clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) was sued by current and past members of its sales force, as well as people who were denied jobs, claiming racial discrimination. The plaintiffs, in a class action lawsuit that grew to include 10,000 claimants, alleged that A&F favored whites in a variety of ways in order to project an image of the “classic American” look. This theme evolved from A&F’s origins as the store that clothed both Theodore Roosevelt and Ernest Hemingway. Plaintiffs alleged that people of color were discouraged from applying for positions visible to the public and were instead steered to stockroom jobs. Managers were aware that they were going to be judged on whether their workforce fit the A&F image.
The suit was eventually settled in 2005 for $40 million (you’ll find the details in the resolution at the end of this chapter), providing at least some evidence of a lack of diversity in the retailer’s operation.
You might find this lack of diversity relevant as you consider some decisions A&F made in 2002, before the lawsuit was filed. A&F opted to produce a line of T-shirts designed to poke fun at particular ethnic groups. One of the shirts advertised the Wong Brothers Laundry Service and had images of two smiling men with bamboo rice-paddy hats, along with a motto, “Two Wongs Can Make it White.”
Other shirts contained the following statements:
“Pizza Dojo: Eat in or wok out. You love long time.” “Wok-n-Bowl: Chinese food and bowl.”
“Buddha Bash: Get your Buddha on the floor.”
Images of the shirts can be viewed at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/ article?f