Writer/director Darryl Roberts talks about what led to the pervasive sexualization of children in the media - and specifically advertising campaigns by retailer Abercrombie & Fitch - as portrayed in the third installment of his documentary series America the Beautiful 3.
“I would say most parents, and a lot of teens as well, felt like Abercrombie was the worst company in America at sexualizing kids,” Roberts said.
He said that after a backlash over comments by Abercrombie’s CEO that indicated his company only wanted “to market to cool, good-looking people,” 17 year-old activist Cali Linstrom began to speak out in protest. “Cali wanted to do something about it, and I was kind of mentoring her. So it was part of her having a voice, I supported her on the protests.”
A a result of Cali’s efforts, she was allowed to meet with Abercrombie officials to explain why she thought the CEO’s comments were bullying. “The whole bullying thing – they agreed to sponsor her on a 20-city tour in 2013, going to high schools to do anti-bullying seminars, through a peer-to-peer perspective,” Roberts said.
The anti-bullying campaign resulted in a dramatic shift in Abercrombie ads from 2011 to 2013, according to Roberts. “I calculated it to be a 60-70 percent reduction in sexualized ads, which I thought was amazing – coming from a company that was the poster child for sexualization at one time.”
Watch the full episode to hear Roberts reveal what his research found about the origins of sexualized images in the 1980s.
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