Abercrombie & Fitch CEO's ugly quest for attractive "cool kids"

Hi everyone. This week, I suggest you an adapted news article about the infamous Abercrombie & Fitch brand. Follow the instructions and enjoy!

1) Listen to the podcast   - DON'T READ

2) Listen again and take notes of what you understand.

3) Read the text and look for the underlined words in a dictionary

4) Read again and listen to the podcast at the same time.

5) Answer the questions at the end of this note, as well as the opinion questions. You can comment the article with your answers.

This week, a mother from Washington DC took her three daugthers’ Abercrombie & Fitch clothes and returned them to the firm’s chief executive, Mike Jeffries, with a note explaining that she wouldn’t let her kids shop at his stores anymore.

Why was she so angry?

Last week, Business Insider reported that Abercrombie refuses to make large-sized clothing, because Jeffries wants «thin and beautiful» people shopping in his store. «He doesn’t want his customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothes». «As far as Jeffries is concerned, America’s unattractive, overweight or otherwise undesirable teens can shop elsewhere.»

Jeffries is quoted as saying « In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-America 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. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody either.»

However, nowadays, fast fashion retailers such as H&M and Forever 21 do a pretty good job of exciting fashion customers of all ages and sizes. And - no big surprise - they have been stealing market share from Abercrombie & Fitch.

From a fashion point of view, Abercrombie is a lame label. Although it sounds vaguely English, Abercrombie is a reinvented hunting and fishing creator based in Ohio. It is not what you can call a design house. It is just a retailer of relatively boring overpriced clothes tarted up for teens.

The company always seems to be in the middle of some scandal or controversy: Its catalog photos are too suggestive, it’s selling thong underwear to pre-teens, and they are in court for forcing less attractive and minority employees to work behind the scenes rather than on the floor.

So, while there is nothing particularly original going on style-wise at Abercrombie, there is a certain genius for developing the anxiety of youngsters who want to be considered cool by their peers.

Supposedly, it’s an anxiety that CEO Jeffries, now in his late 60’s, never outgrew. «Jeffries wants desperately to look like his target customers, and in that pursuit he has aggressively transformed hismelf from a classically handsome man into a cartoonish physical specimen: dyed hair, perfectly white teeth, golden tan, building biceps, wrinkle-free face, and big Angelina Jolie lips.»

Still trying to be one of the cool kids, I guess.

Adapted from L.A. Now, article by Robin Abcarian, May 11th, 2013

Questions:

1) Why was the mother so angry?

2) Why does Abercrombie exclude non-attractive people?

3) Why does the journalist think that Abercrombie is a lame label?

4) What kind of controversy or scandal is the company in the middle of?

5) What does Jeffries look like?

Opinion questions:

1) Did you know Abercrombie & Fitch? Have you ever been to one of their shops?

2) Is this company the reflection of today's world?

Brazil's protests raise fears for World Cup

Here is the first adapted news article for learning purpose. Read the article one time without stopping and try to have a general understanding of the text.

You can also listen to the audio version of the text: 

Football supporters shoot rubber bullets, the roads into the stadiums are blocked by angry people, mobs are throwing stones at Fifa offices, Confederations Cup signs are being ripped down in the heart of mass protests. These scenes are unlikely to happen in a country that loves football so much and they are the last thing that the organizers of the World Cup wanted to see in Brazil before next year's tournament. However, for the past week, they have happened almost every day and the country's favorite sport has become the focus of the biggest demonstrations in decades. 

More than a million people went in the streets on Thursday night in at least 80 cities. The demonstrations prompt local authorities to request security reinforcements from the national government. The rallies and the violence were not only prompted by the tournament. The initial spark last week was a rise in public transport fares. Public anger has since been worsened by police brutality. Problems that have existed for a long time, such as corruption, dire public services, high prices and low levels of safety are also the target of the demonstrations. But the huge event was the lightning conductor. Many protesters are furious that the government is spending 31 billion reals (£9 billion) to set the stage for a tournament that will only happen once, while it doesn't react to everyday problems.

"I'm here to fight corruption and the expense of the World Cup," said Nelber Bonifcacio, an unemployed teacher who was among the big crowds in Rio on Thursday. "I like football, but Brazil has spent all that money on the event when we don't have good public education, healthcare or infrastructure."

 It was different in 2007 when Brazil was awarded the tournament. Back then, the crowds in Rio were full of joy and Ricardo Teixeira, the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, was adulated when he said "We are a civilized nation, a nation that is going through an excellent phase, and we have got everything prepared to receive adequately the honour to organize an excellent World Cup." Football belonged in Brazil. In the home of carnival and samba, it would be a party like no other. But euphoria faded away as the preparations for 2014 have drawn attention to the persistent corruption, cronyism, inequality and public insecurity. Those who appeared to have the Midas touch in 2007 now seem cursed.  

What is going to happen next is difficult to predict. The government changed its mind on the bus fare increase, but it is harder to meet the protesters' demands about the World Cup because the funds are mostly spent and the stadiums cannot be unbuilt. More planned marches are going to take place. In a country where football is almost the national religion, people want to enjoy the World Cup, but for millions, Fifa has become a tainted brand, associated with a distant global elite who profit at the expense of local people.

As a banned held by one protester said on Thursday "We don't want a country that is beautiful only for gringos."

Source - Adapted from The Guardian Online

Now that you have read the text, download the vocabulary and read the text again to answer the questions. Download the pdf file here.

Finally, check your answers here.

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