Abercrombie & Fitch began promoting a new “multicultural” line of clothing last week. However, these T-shirts fell short of this goal and in effect displayed offensive stereotypes of Asians and Asian Americans to the mass market. The T-shirts, which retailed for $25, showed cartoonish slant-eyed Asians in conical hats with the slogans, “Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make it White” and “Pizza Dojo. You love long time. Eat in or Wok Out.” One shirt also portrays a man pulling a rickshaw with the phrase, “Rick Shaw’s Hoagies and Grinders. Order by the foot. Good meat. Quick feet.” Due to these insulting depictions, young Asian Americans across the nation launched protest against Abercrombie in order to let the company know that consumers and Asian Americans will not tolerate this form of stereotyping and racism.

Jane Kim offered her comments on the situation:

“I am reminded that, even in this day and age, something as insensitive and overtly RACIST as this can happen in our society. These slogans and caricatures have the effect of reinforcing stereotypes of Asian Americans. It is completely INAPPROPRIATE and UNACCEPTABLE for Abercrombie and Fitch (A&F) to make profit from these negative and hurtful images of Asian Americans. A&F has ONLY issued a formal statement with an apology, stating that they would pull the shirts off of shelves and their website immediately. Statements by their company spokesman do not even acknowledge or explain why these T-shirts are offensive and hurtful. A&F is completely trivializing the historical legacy of Asian American experience in the U.S. Obviously, A&F does not understand the historical context of work that Asian Americans have been FORCED to do in this country. They are also being completely INSENSITIVE by devaluing the religious icon, Buddha, which is central to Buddhism (the shirt shows a smiling Buddha figure with the words, “Buddha Bash: Get your Buddha on the floor”).

I am tired of Asian Americans depicted as combinations of karate fighting, slant-eyed servants who speak broken English (“You love long time” or “Two Wongs can make it white”). These shirts are insulting and degrading. We as a community need to do something about it. Until Abercrombie and Fitch addresses this problem by issuing formal apologies on their website and to major media sources, which states why this is a problem, and hires consultants to ensure sensitivity to Asian and other minority issues, we should all boycott their products. They should also create a heavily publicized mass recall that will provide full refunds or exchanges for these shirts and ensure that all of them will be destroyed. PLEASE call or write to the company expressing your concerns and demands.”

Pana Lee stated, “Abercrombie and Fitch’s T-shirts contain racist stereotypes that perpetuate major anti-Asian and Asian American sentiment in America and abroad.” Jennifer Liu couldn’t believe that these T-shirts even made it onto the shelves.

On April 18, 2002, Abercrombie and Fitch pulled the shirts from the website and the stores. However, the protests have not stopped due to the following reasons:

1. Tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of these shirts have been sold, the company has made a profit off of them, and people are still wearing them.
2. The company has not even offered a formal apology. The only apology that has come has been from someone working for a PR firm hired by Abercrombie.
3. People who bought the shirts, wore them, and were subsequently educated about their racist content are currently not able to return them (current return policy).
4. The company has to not only stop selling the shirts, but ensure that this never happens again by making changes.

People across the nation feel that Abercrombie must act to correct its actions and are demanding the following actions to be taken:

1. Ensure that the pulled shirts are not simply shipped off to discounters or sold in another market, but instead, recycled or destroyed.
2. In every store, post a public apology and a public notice, educating people about why the shirts are offensive.
3. Conduct an aggressive, well-advertised recall campaign for several months, where Abercrombie will at least give a full refund for all of the T-shirts, no questions asked, regardless of whether the shirts have been worn or not.
4. Improve diversity/cultural sensitivity training for its workforce.
5. Institute a written company policy regarding the use of racial stereotypes and commitment to cultural sensitivity.
6. Diversify minority representation in the company’s workforce and advertising.

We, as people for equality and justice, must unite and protest this gross and demeaning and inaccurate portrayal of Asians. It is ridiculous that these T-shirts even got into stores. Furthermore, these racist images reduce and simplify the contribution that many Asians and Asian Americans have put into America’s economic, social and political realm. Corporations need to stop commodifying cultures and racism. It has to stop now.