This is a complicated ad from a…complicated…company that, in typical fashion, both raises vital ethical questions that other companies are too cowardly to ask, and raises religious tolerance and pro-feminist issues…and then pisses off half of its own target demographic, both helping to get AA a ton of free publicity. Win, lose, it’s a win! From the Daily Beast: Sure, the statement may be a playful nod at the model’s heritage, but it also targets one of the fast-fashion industry’s biggest issues: sweatshops and their unsafe working conditions. In April 2013, Bangladesh-based garment factories made international headlines when the Rana Plaza Building, which produced clothing for the likes of JC Penney and Mango, collapsed, causing over 1,000 deaths. Following the tragedy, American Apparel CEO Dov Charneyspoke out against overseas, sweatshop production. “In Bangladesh, the problem with these factories is that they’re only given contracts on a seasonal or order-by-order basis,” Charney told the L.A. Times. “There’s so much pressure to perform, some of the working conditions are outrageous, almost unbelievable. It has completely stripped the human element from the brands… It’s such a blind, desensitized way of making clothing.” In 2002 American Apparel dubbed itself “sweatshop-free”…
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 01:51:50 +0000