THE ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH CONTROVERSY
One of my friends on Facebook was talking about this in the last couple of days, but I hadn't heard anything about it.  So I did a little looking around.  Here first of all is the genesis of the controversy:

Abercrombie & Fitch Chief Executive Michael S. Jeffries has finally addressed criticism regarding controversial comments he made during a 2006 interview that have resurfaced and gone viral over the last week.
The clothing retailer has avoided commenting on the issue. But anger continues to mount online against Jeffries and Abercrombie, particularly its strategy of not making women’s clothing in any size above large.
In a statement issued Thursday, Jeffries falls short of an apology, instead saying he regrets that his “choice of words was interpreted in a manner that has caused offense.”
At issue is an interview that Jeffries, 68, had with Salon magazine in 2006 in which he described Abercrombie’s target market.
“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” Jeffries said in the article. “Candidly, 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.”
Since the interview resurfaced, a petition popped up on Change.org last week to pressure the company to change that policy. Then, a Huffington Post blogger posted an open letter to Jeffries. A YouTube video appeared this week in which a man distributed the company’s clothes to homeless people on Los Angeles' skid row to change the brand's image.
In his statement, Jeffries said his “7-year-old, resurrected quote has been taken out of context,” but he reemphasized that Abercrombie “targets its marketing at a particular segment of customers.”
He added: “We are completely opposed to any discrimination, bullying, derogatory characterizations or other anti-social behavior based on race, gender, body type or other individual characteristics." 

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Okay?  And yes, of course, A & F has the right to market its stuff to whomever it wants.  That's part of the freedom we all enjoy.  And its CEO can say whatever he wants about that.  That's part of freedom, too.  But...at the same time, we can wish, can't we, that he had considered the consequences and the import of his words and attitudes on the wider culture.  And I think we all wish that he'd think about it some more.  For his words and actions can in fact appear to condone, and even encourage, exclusionary thinking--and actions--in many ways.  And this is explained very well by a young lady who recently wrote an open letter about this whole topic.  Check it out:

Abercrombie & Fitch's exclusion of large women hit close to home for Philadelphia-based writer Colleen Radano.
Radano sent us a letter about how she was bullied by kids who wore Abercrombie in high school.
Abercrombie has been in the hot seat since Business Insider connected CEO Michael Jeffries' comments about wanting beautiful people to shop there to the company's exclusion of clothing sizes for large women.
Abercrombie is standing by its exclusion of large women, even after public protests about the CEO's attitude. 
We published an abridged version of Radano's letter. Read the whole thing here.

A Note to Michael Jeffries, CEO, Abercrombie & Fitch.

Mike,

I write to you in response to the recent media outburst surrounding your unfortunate decision to further declare the exclusions that exist in your soft-core porn clothing store, Abercrombie & Fitch. I read your statements, your comments, your beliefs and I’ve let them sink in for a few weeks. In fact, I initially decided not to respond at all since I have always chosen to not shop at your store anyway. The fact that your store doesn’t make or sell clothing higher than a size 10 or a “L” is actually news to me. I think your store, quite literally, stinks.

Now, I worked at Guest Services inside of my local mall and I had to deal with the customers who complained about the abundance of musky stench that infects the sinuses of each passer-by, but I did not write you then. I heard that you were targeting girls as young as eight years old in your campaigns over the years, sending them your pornographic catalogs and full-knowingly attempting to engage them into becoming sexual, “cool” teens who would shop at your store, but I did not write you then. But when you specifically called out my plus size ass in your latest statements, Mike, I’m ready to write.

You see, I told you, I’m polite to the point where it makes me uncomfortable to just call you “Mike” (but I’m over it). I know I’m polite because I’ve met impolite people (this is you). I think back to high school, where I attended a “well-off” private, Catholic, college preparatory school. I think of the kids who, when they weren’t wearing a uniform, sported your clothing. I regret to inform you that “cool” doesn’t exactly come to mind, but “expulsion”, “bully”, “pretzel thrown at me at lunch”, and “harassment” actually do. They were ALL on the football team and I bet you, Mike, find them to be cool. 

You see, it was the kids wearing your clothing who thought they were so unstoppably “cool” (because you told them they are) that they could therefore harass girls all throughout our class-- girls of all different shapes and sizes. They thought they could write derogatory comments across one girl’s driveway at home, and they were expelled. They thought that they could call the girls at home at night, plaguing them with hurtful words and hysterical laughter, and they were suspended. 

I’m 27 years old, Mike, and I received a social media message from one of these bullies just last year, with a wink face… that’s it, just a wink face. It was a cruel reminder, a hurtful flashback.. a wink is all it takes to tell me, almost TEN YEARS after high-school graduation and the last time we saw each other, that he still is teasing me, he is still mean, he is still a bully, he is still SO COOL, and he wanted me to know.

When I re-visited your outrageous commentary today, I discovered the long list of rules that you require that your private jet flight attendants fulfill.

I can’t say I won’t buy your products because, as I’ve said, I never did and, secondly, you’ve excluded me from being able to do so anyway. I know there is currently a young all-American man who is clothing the homeless by donating his A&F clothes because your claims sicken him too, Mike. I know there are a bunch of moms, fully disregarding the former money spent on your clothing, rallying up mounds of their kids’ clothes that display your A&F tags, and ridding of them. 

And I’ve got news for you, Mike… in the world, girls with huge hooters are INCREDIBLY cool, and they may require an “XL”.

Get with it,

Colleen Radano.

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You go, Ms. Radano.