beat 'em, or join 'em?
I don't generally watch "20/20" due to its generally awful and reactionary take on "news" (yeesh! sort of like Fox News, really). But it happened to be on a few days ago and they had a little mini-expose on American Apparel's Dov Charney and his carnal workplace ways. It seems as if he is finally being sued by some lady employees for his oversexualized antics. It's a funny thing to watch since it *does* raise the question: is it unethical to talk sexually in the workplace if you acknowledge that "sex sells" in the promotion of your clothing line? Ergo, can American Apparel basically take the stance that, like say, Hustler magazine, if you can't take the sexual content of what they do then maybe you shouldn't work there anyway?
Trust me, I'm far from a prude in such matters but have thought general distateful things about American Apparel because of the overly racy ads (hey, i thought they were all about promoting fair-wages and US-made goods. oh, oops, i forgot: sex sells!). I think their ad campaigns aren't very clever--just lazy in turning to the visual language of soft-core porn. Personally, I'm not offended by them, but am wishful that they would take a more (relatively) adventurous angle. At this point it remind me more and more of "Girls Gone Wild." Boooooring!
OH, and one last thing: I'm also in the online shopping doldrums right now...it seems like the summertime isn't such a productive time for online crafty makers and there's a dearth of goods to peruse! HELP! Someone send me some cool links for online shopping that has new inventory...handmade stuff would be nice, but small-label works well, too!.
11 Comments:
Their ads are really boring and creepy. The first one I saw I thought: "Oh, this must be the poor Mexican lady that sews all day for a pittance. Wow, she does look kind of sweaty and dirty!" But then I realized it was somebody's idea of a hot chick in a terry cloth romper. WTF? These ads make it look like you might get paid a decent wage to work for AA but you're gonna need to show the boss what you got underneath your 80s style running shorts. Eewww...so gross!
a few years ago i interviewed a woman who was the editor of 3 adult magazines. she is in the documentary Crumb as his once girlfriend and is now an editor at Taschen for his books focussing on erotica. anyway. i asked her that exact question- how if you work in an office where the focus is sex do you not have problems with sexual harrassment. i mean you are always talking about it right? when does it become personal? she agreed that it is pretty clear when it is personal and not personal. very clear.
dov is nasty and gross. its really hard to want to support good ethical workplace practises when you know the workplaces are envrionments ala the seventies...and i think its different if its not a workplace in the adult industry - because youre setting yourself apart from the rest because of how "well" you treat your employees, but how "well" is it mentally for any woman to work in that sort of environment?
im pretty anti american apparel after living LA and watching the stores multiplyand then the gigantic billboards come up everywhere, along with rumors and stories from people who have worked there - its like in business terms totally commendable (sweatshop free, they actually have good benefits and such) but mentally, totally gross.
there was an article in jane magazine like 2 years ago and dov offered to masterbate like 5 times in front of the writer of the piece. among other things. and some friends who used to live in montreal were so skeeved out to find out that he was the owner of american apparel that they found a different supplier for thier silkscreening business - because of his reputation from montreal as a total goofball. im going off. any mention of that grodie makes me so mad that hes such a good businessman. and so gross. :)
-jenne lixolux
Yeah, I thought the concept was great, bringing apparel jobs back to the US but as a CEO Dov surely isn't a role model. I'm not a prude either but sheesh, jacking off in the workplace is pretty disgusting.
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One of a kind, unique handmade handbagss and accesories. Enjoy it.!
i just have to answer {the other anonymous} that there are many women who choose to work in the adult publishing industry and you really shouldn't judge before you look into it more, as in when you refer to "that sort of environment". the same workplace legalities apply there as well. Taschen is pretty "lofty" as far as erotic publishing is concerned, and the woman i know who works there is mentally and emotionaly very sound. previous to her working there she was also well matched to her less "lofty" job and took great pride in it. when i asked those questions of her i did not qualify them with "that sort of environment".
interesting conversation overall, folks. i'm glad that earlier writer interviewing the Taschen editor came out and asked her a direct question regarding sexual boundaries in the workplace (as opposed to summmarize her own decision) since she was curious about it. it sounds like she got a direct answer, as well.
but as the later writer makes clear--yes, one thing to remember is plenty of women (myself included) enjoy and are interested in explicitly sexual content, whether it is in relation to a work-related career (publishing, writing, art, etc.), or just for pure pleasure. all sorts of interesting relations, arrangements, and activities exist to fulfill this, and should. just thought i should remember to state this, so as not to make it sound like i feel women are adversely or negatively affected by sexual content when they encounter it...quite the contrary!
I guess my main beef is really American Apparel's lazy ad campaign. Maybe for me their politics should trump their sexuality. But then again, that's why I don't work in marketing, eh? I guess I would suck at it, it seems.
this is sort of funny. there are so many anonymous' here. i am anonymous 1 & 4. just had to say that or i think the thread is a bit confused. i interviewed the Taschen woman and then answered to the other anonymous. maybe this is obvious, dunno...
you know what i have been finding is that there is such an "innocent" style/aesthetic in the crafting world that it borders on prudish. i guess there are just different pockets of people because there are definitely crafters with a bit of "grit". that is why i am using "anonymous" here, which is sort of goofy. and i know i am really generalizing here and that will irk some people.
if the accusations against the AA owner are true, then he is just way out of line. i don't mind their ad campaigns, they are so cheesy and 70s/80s porn style and i often love that. it's just never ok to be sexually harrassed on the job just because your boss thinks he is a big stud or for whatever reason. and i do think his campaign is starting to miss and gross out a large portion of his market demographic.
signed,
the other other anonymous
anti-factory i just wanted to also say, my "prudish" comments weren't aimed at you at all. i hear where you are coming from and agree with you.
ok now i am anonymous 1,4,5 & 6! i could start playing bingo with these numbers.
ha ha! yep, this is all getting tangled up isn't it :) thanks for clarifying, Ms Multiple Anonymous, I think I was getting the "voices" confused and now I think I've straightened it out for myself...
And nah, i wasn't thinking you were calling me prude at all. just wanted everyone else to know i'm not against the "down and dirty that is the AA campaign" per se...just their lame-o approach.
And DUDE. I'm along the same lines as you in thinking that the online crafty community has a tendency to act cutesy and be grit-adverse (for lack of a better term). For some reason my online persona falls prey to this as well, when on the contrary I think I can be quite the opposite. Hmmm. I guess it's like subconscious peer pressure or something. Sigh! But that's another topic. OK, just for the fun of it, I'm going to say FUCK. Yeah! Fuck yeah!
yey! that is so funny. i am glad you agree.
i'll say it too-
Fuck yeah!
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