Everyone has their own opinions, but not everyone knows how to express them. This section features three regulars who will express their point of views on issues dealing with Asian Americans along with a new guest for each question. All answers are no longer than a paragraph, so the opinions are condensed. As the reader, decide whose argument compells you the most.
| Question of the Moment as of May 20th, 2002 It has been a month since the Abercrombie & Fitch controversy stirred the Asian American community. This issue will show the various reactions to the t-shirt design and how the Asian American community should respond to such cases. Our guest features Stanford's Bryan Kim, 2001-02 Chair of Asian American Student Association, who played a part in initiating the campaign to protest against A&F's t-shirt designs. |
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Abercrombie & Fitch's controversial T-shirt design was a poor decision by the company. Did they really expect to "diversify their consumer base" by producing seemingly mocking designs? Initially, I was offended by the t-shirts designs; I could see why so many Asians were so upset about them. The designs used rather clever plays on words--unfortunately those puns were blatantly making fun of Asians. The more I thought about it however, the original anger I felt changed into pity--pity for the idiots at Abercrombie who thought these shirts were actually going to sell. What were they thinking? "The thought was that everyone would love them, especially the Asian community." It's funny. Not the shirts, but Abercrombie's stupidity and ignorance. | ||
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My Chinese American friend at MIT, making his usual round of A&F’s website and also hearing certain murmurs about some “offensive” Chinese t-shirt, came upon the Wong Brothers Laundry T-shirt and bought it immediately. Lucky for him, he was able to place the order a day before A&F had to pull the shirt off its stores and website because of the protests across the nation. My friend received his shirt a week later and proudly wore it around campus, without causing much of a disturbance. Why am I mentioning this? Well, I definitely do think A&F was wrong to make such controversial shirt designs, no matter how funny they are. But in my opinion, this mockery of Asians and Asian heritage is bigger than just what A&F puts on its T-shirts. I see it on the 7-up commercial when the Chinese guy passes by and it’s automatically “international,” I see it on the Simpsons when Japanese tourists take pictures of Homer thinking he’s Mr. Sparkle, and I hear about Jay Leno making fun of Koreans eating dogs. Yes – I do crack up and laugh, but to me, these stereotypes are just as important to deal with as some t-shirt design that Abercrombie even admitted was targeted towards Asian Americans. Instead of boycotting and asking for pointless apologies, we ought to ask A&F to feature some Asian American models in their clothing to justify their strategy. This way, A&F can improve its image as a white-only clothing company and become more diverse and respectable to minorities. |
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Abercrombie's recent t-shirt fiasco was, first and foremost, a thoughtless blunder. When the young, privileged, and sassy Asian-American youth who comprise a substantial portion of their target audience caused a fuss, they removed the offending shirts. Smart marketing on their part. I didn't find Abercrombie's puns on Chinese takeout and laundry very funny, and I'm glad that those t-shirts are no longer being sold. But when all's said and done, it's done nothing for the 13% of Asian-Americans struggling to live below poverty level--or, heck, the 16% of Americans in general doing the same. Having these overpriced t-shirts pulled might have been a temporary victory, but it didn't even scratch the surface of actual race and ethnic struggle in this country, something that I'm not sure we Abercrombie-sporting college youth understand. Celebrate we will, but there are more important challenges to be overcome. |
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Quite simply, the shirts were racist in that they disrespected the marginalized history of Asians in America. They commoditized and mocked our history of repression, especially when Asian Americans were forced into these jobs as laundry men and restaurant owners by a xenophobic America. Context is important. Who is making the joke? It is simply inappropriate for a mainstream clothier that blatantly markets a whitewashed image to make a "joke" of the others. Countless angry APIs (Asian Pacific Islanders) will not allow A and F to determine what is sacred and what is funny about our oft ignored history. An Asian American activist myself, I definitely feel the resurgence of a progressive Asian American movement, especially at the grassroots level of college students. This issue forced me to network with API student leaders across the nation, and I was pleased to find many progressive activists who were ready to organize and mobilize. For many other Asian Americans, this incident was proof positive of the continued marginalization of Asian Americans. For college students, this was an especially relevant, blatant and tangible example of our continued marginalization. As much harm as A and F has done to us as a people, I am personally excited to work with new people woken up to racial realities in America. That's just more people for the good fight. |
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