Clamor Magazine parodies American Apparel ads
CVK
Spotted this over at Feministing and thought it was hilarious. 
Clamor magazine, which “publishes content of, by, for, and with marginalized communities” has a long article about the general shadiness of American Apparel, illustrated by a series of parody ads in which they mock AA’s formula of 70’s porn chic + mixed race girls + no bras + hipster cred. I’ll need to print the article out to read on the train, but so far it seems pretty insightful. You can download a PDF of the article here.
Here’s how this parody ad reads:
Kristina, born to an Iranian mom and Belgian pop, is a native Ohioan. She’s seen here sporting an emerald 100% cotton racerback tank. Unfortunately, her brand devotion to AA could never land her a spot in their ads: Dov Charney thinks short hair on girls is “unnatural.”
Apparently American Apparel is in a huff about the article, and is actually threatening legal action against Clamor. Feministing really nails it when they write:
Props to the editors/writers for pointing out that AA’s non-sweatshop stance doesn’t make up for its proto-porn advertising campaigns or the fact that Charney reportedly thinks sexual harassment is OK as long as you’re a hipster.
It’s kind of like how racism is OK as long as you’re a hipster. Cause then it’s like, meta and stuff.
Related posts:
Racial ambiguity and the hipster aesthetic
John Mayer drops the N-bomb
American Apparel CEO sued for sexual harassment
American Apparel: T-Shirts, Sex, and Mixed People too
mtevc wrote:
Not to mention the implied underage look of the models and the childish, yet still sexy, stance of the young looking women (teens) in the ads…really nasty to me
Posted 30 Aug 2006 at 6:12 pm ¶
MizuWari wrote:
I get and understand the gist of the sentiment against the ads themselves. I even agree for the most part.
However, on the flipside, I find SOME of the ads featuring women appealing to me, being a man and a person of color. I’m not even going to try to deny this. It’s just me finding fancy in women I see attractive to me and if they’re wearing light items and showing skin…well, how you see and appreciate sexuality will always be in the personal and always be up for debate.
The main element or elements that make the whole shebang unsavory are primarily Dov Charney himself, followed by the whole “hipster” crap culture this is directly or indirectly a facet of.
The parody ads are pretty dead on, but could’ve been more so. All you really need is Helvetica and there you go! I’ve printed the whole PDF article out and will be reading this on the train ride back to my hipster-infested nabe in Brooklyn…
Posted 30 Aug 2006 at 6:25 pm ¶