IM a guy and even I find American Apparel s marketing offensive. all their ads are like kiddie porn.

They have a store 2 blocks from my place and They once had covered an ENTIRE wall with PENTHOUSE magazine covers in their store. Classy. And the owner is a lecherous, evil and creepy pedophile

It's not pedophilia if the people in the ads are legal. The problem with AA is not that it is pedophilic, it's that it is misogynistic as hell, especially in the advertising, and the owner sexually harasses his employees.

I don't have an issue with the porn in the store inherently disturbing, though. The mag wasn't open. The nosy mom, in this story, decided to take the gay porn mag from the display, open it, and then was shocked, SHOCKED! to find that there was gay porn right there!

Come on, lady.

Ok, not being familiar with American Apparel, after reading the above posts I have to ask.... WTF?

I mean an employee putting a gay porn mag in a mannequin's backpack as a prank is funny. But it seems like there is more going on.

Ashtrey: Ok, not being familiar with American Apparel, after reading the above posts I have to ask.... WTF?

I mean an employee putting a gay porn mag in a mannequin's backpack as a prank is funny. But it seems like there is more going on.

AA is very gay-friendly. Well, gay hipster-friendly.

some day in the future, we can have a thing where there's a trap door triggered by the gasps of 'think of the children' types being offended about stupid shiat. They would then be made into soylent green. I'm pretty sure this would hit between 2-5 birds with one stone. Since I am sure of the potential of this idea to spread actual good in the world, I release it to the world, uncopyrighted, not trademarked,not patetented, and with the hope that the UN will put it into practice.

I just want to know if this lady was offended by the *gay* porn, or just porn in general. If it's the latter, fine, though I doubt it. If it was, he word "gay" wouldn't have been so prominent.

I'm all for diversity, but uh... If it was just a 'gay' magazine I could see the point, but a porno mag?

Porn is porn whether it's gay, straight, or with an animal. I don't really see why there is a point being made here that it was gay porn.

I mean what is everyone supposed to say. Be all outraged that there is a porn mag in a mannequin's backpack, but then once they find out it's gay say "Oh... well then that's alright."

/really

I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Lars The Canadian Viking: I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Been drinking, have we?

RealAmericanHero: Lars The Canadian Viking: I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Been drinking, have we?

Was talking about the owner of AA.

Lars The Canadian Viking: RealAmericanHero: Lars The Canadian Viking: I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Been drinking, have we?

Was talking about the owner of AA.

Yes, but your screen name implies that you like to drink.

Donald_McRonald: Lars The Canadian Viking: RealAmericanHero: Lars The Canadian Viking: I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Been drinking, have we?

Was talking about the owner of AA.

Yes, but your screen name implies that you like to drink.

And pillage.

RealAmericanHero: Donald_McRonald: Lars The Canadian Viking: RealAmericanHero: Lars The Canadian Viking: I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Been drinking, have we?

Was talking about the owner of AA.

Yes, but your screen name implies that you like to drink.

And pillage.

And drink.

RealAmericanHero: Donald_McRonald: Lars The Canadian Viking: RealAmericanHero: Lars The Canadian Viking: I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Been drinking, have we?

Was talking about the owner of AA.

Yes, but your screen name implies that you like to drink.

And pillage.

Rape, pillage, drink, rape.

Moonk: RealAmericanHero: Donald_McRonald: Lars The Canadian Viking: RealAmericanHero: Lars The Canadian Viking: I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Been drinking, have we?

Was talking about the owner of AA.

Yes, but your screen name implies that you like to drink.

And pillage.

Rape, pillage, drink, rape.

*obligatory* You said 'rape' twice.

Moonk: RealAmericanHero: Donald_McRonald: Lars The Canadian Viking: RealAmericanHero: Lars The Canadian Viking: I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Been drinking, have we?

Was talking about the owner of AA.

Yes, but your screen name implies that you like to drink.

And pillage.

Rape, pillage, drink, rape.

Why did you say rape twice?

LordJiro:
*obligatory* You said 'rape' twice.

damnit. Quicker, and better.

LordJiro: Moonk: RealAmericanHero: Donald_McRonald: Lars The Canadian Viking: RealAmericanHero: Lars The Canadian Viking: I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Been drinking, have we?

Was talking about the owner of AA.

Yes, but your screen name implies that you like to drink.

And pillage.

Rape, pillage, drink, rape.

*obligatory* You said 'rape' twice.

Let's go watch some gay porn so we can get our hate back.

It looks like a lot of people in this thread like rape.

Just like 9/10ths of prison inmates.

thereadlines: LordJiro:
*obligatory* You said 'rape' twice.

damnit. Quicker, and better.

that movie never gets old.

Moonk:
that movie never gets old.

#6 on AFI's list (new window). I might quarrel with some of the other placements, though.

Just say that the mannequin is straight and the gay porn is making fun of him for being "faggy." Problem solved.

bobbette: It's not pedophilia if the people in the ads are legal. The problem with AA is not that it is pedophilic, it's that it is misogynistic as hell, especially in the advertising, and the owner sexually harasses his employees.

I've always felt that was the biggest shame with American Apparel. They do something cool like make fashionable clothing (not saying I like it, but it is in fashion) in non-sweatshop conditions, and yet its all run by a misogynistic, egotistical farkhead.

Kinda like if someone invented a cheap, reliable form of alternative energy, only for it it turn out that said inventor was a neo-Nazi skinhead.

thereadlines: Moonk:
that movie never gets old.

#6 on AFI's list (new window). I might quarrel with some of the other placements, though.

Well it is Full-On Threadjack Time.

havent seen all of the top 10 so i cant rightfully comment, but i'm glad duck soup is up there, always loved the Marx Brothers.
However, as much as i enjoyed the graduate, i really didn't find it that comedic, farcical yes, but funny, no. So i would but that one down a few. Very glad to see Dr Strangelove at 3.

*snort* I love the fact that on the article's comment section that most of the people are arguing about gay rights & not about the fact that pornography was stuffed into a backback. It doesn't matter if it was on display or not, it was still in a position where people could get a hold of it.

I sort of wonder though if it's something that was put there suddenly by someone in order to avoid being caught with it.

Moonk: RealAmericanHero: Donald_McRonald: Lars The Canadian Viking: RealAmericanHero: Lars The Canadian Viking: I love how this chick was interviewing him for some woman's magazine and he whips it out mid-interview and... finishes. "Do you mind if I masturbate?" best line ever.

Been drinking, have we?

Was talking about the owner of AA.

Yes, but your screen name implies that you like to drink.

And pillage.

Rape, pillage, drink, rape.

We're gonna rape, sack, pillage & burn!
We're gonna rape, sack, pillage & burn- EAT THE BABIES!


/first thing that came to my mind after reading this
//friends used to sing it in school
///the teachers LOVED us!

that lady sure is butthurt.

/so sorry

Moonk: thereadlines: Moonk:
that movie never gets old.

#6 on AFI's list (new window). I might quarrel with some of the other placements, though.

Well it is Full-On Threadjack Time.

havent seen all of the top 10 so i cant rightfully comment, but i'm glad duck soup is up there, always loved the Marx Brothers.
However, as much as i enjoyed the graduate, i really didn't find it that comedic, farcical yes, but funny, no. So i would but that one down a few. Very glad to see Dr Strangelove at 3.

I can't comment on the Marx Brothers' movies because I haven't seen those. But I do agree with your assessment of The Graduate, which I didn't think was really a comedy. I think that The Jerk was sorely placed (other Steve Martin gems are absent), and unless I missed it, why is Animal House the only National Lampoon feature to make the list?

Also, maybe it's just a recency effect, but I think that A Christmas Story deserves recognition.

sorry for the threadjack

thereadlines: Moonk: thereadlines: Moonk:
that movie never gets old.

#6 on AFI's list (new window). I might quarrel with some of the other placements, though.

Well it is Full-On Threadjack Time.

havent seen all of the top 10 so i cant rightfully comment, but i'm glad duck soup is up there, always loved the Marx Brothers.
However, as much as i enjoyed the graduate, i really didn't find it that comedic, farcical yes, but funny, no. So i would but that one down a few. Very glad to see Dr Strangelove at 3.

I can't comment on the Marx Brothers' movies because I haven't seen those. But I do agree with your assessment of The Graduate, which I didn't think was really a comedy. I think that The Jerk was sorely placed (other Steve Martin gems are absent), and unless I missed it, why is Animal House the only National Lampoon feature to make the list?

Also, maybe it's just a recency effect, but I think that A Christmas Story deserves recognition.

sorry for the threadjack

never be ashamed of a threadjack! be proud of it!

will defenitley agree that more Lmapoon movies should be there - at the very least National Lampoon's Christmas vacation, and animal house should be higher - many others have referrenced it.

However - ya lost me on A Christmas Story. never liked it. And i like Garrison Keilor, so kitschy faux-nostalgia is fine with me.
But i hate this movie whith the simmering rage of the heat death of the universe. maybe it is because i find all the characters in it reprehensible, or possibly it is just the narators voice, but come thanksgiving time i avoid this movie like the plague.

And unless i missed it. No Spaceballs. excellent bit of satire, but of course this line of commedy spawned zucker's "every movie reference movie" line. Speaking of zucker though, no kentucky Fried Movie? i know it is a little blue, but my god, fist full of yen was excellent.

NSFW? Ad
NSFW? Ad
NSFW? Ad

I'm guessing the mom is unaware of how AA presents itself.

Moonk: thereadlines: Moonk:

never be ashamed of a threadjack! be proud of it!

will defenitley agree that more Lmapoon movies should be there - at the very least National Lampoon's Christmas vacation, and animal house should be higher - many others have referrenced it.

However - ya lost me on A Christmas Story. never liked it. And i like Garrison Keilor, so kitschy faux-nostalgia is fine with me.
But i hate this movie whith the simmering rage of the heat death of the universe. maybe it is because i find all the characters in it reprehensible, or possibly it is just the narators voice, but come thanksgiving time i avoid this movie like the plague.

And unless i missed it. No Spaceballs. excellent bit of satire, but of course this line of commedy spawned zucker's "every movie reference movie" line. Speaking of zucker though, no kentucky Fried Movie? i know it is a little blue, but my god, fist full of yen was excellent.

I think you have been over-exposed to "A Christmas Story." And Spaceballs is a critical oversight. Stupid that I didn't think of that before you mentioned it. Kentucky Fried Movie should also make the list, possibly replacing Private Benjamin. I could go on and on, but I will at this point also say the There's Something About Mary is way too high on that list.

social benthos: bobbette: It's not pedophilia if the people in the ads are legal. The problem with AA is not that it is pedophilic, it's that it is misogynistic as hell, especially in the advertising, and the owner sexually harasses his employees.

I've always felt that was the biggest shame with American Apparel. They do something cool like make fashionable clothing (not saying I like it, but it is in fashion) in non-sweatshop conditions, and yet its all run by a misogynistic, egotistical farkhead.

Kinda like if someone invented a cheap, reliable form of alternative energy, only for it it turn out that said inventor was a neo-Nazi skinhead.

Well, this is what Wikipedia says about Dov Charney (founder and CEO of American Apparel):


Sexuality and controversy

Charney has been subject to five sexual harassment lawsuits, four of which were dismissed or settled out of court while the fifth is still pending. [60][61][62] On the eve of trial in one case, the plaintiff confessed that she had not been subjected to sexual harassment and agreed to go to an arbitration hearing aimed at clearing Dov Charney's name. However, the plaintiff failed to show up to the hearing and a ruling was unable to be reached. As a result, American Apparel refused to pay the settlement amount - prompting a dissolution of the entire agreement and a statement from the plaintiff saying that the agreed arbitration would have been a "sham."[63] [64][65] He has also admitted that his office features photographs of nude models.[66] In 2004, Claudine Ko of Jane magazine[67] published a controversial essay narrating multiple sexual exchanges that occurred while spending time with Charney.[68][69] The article's publication brought extensive press to the company and Charney, who later responded that he believed that the acts had been done consensually, in private and outside the article's bounds.[70][71][72][73] Ko contests this[73] but in an email to a website called Jewlicious described the reporting experience as "fun, engaging, stimulating and interesting."[74]


So yeah, I've heard the stories about this guy, but I'm not going to convict solely based on the rumour mill. It's one thing if I personally know one of the victims and know them to be honest, but I imagine there are a lot of people who are money-grubbing and are willing to tarnish someone's name to do it. Especially when that person is unrepentantly sexual.

I'm more concerned with the fact that he claims to be 'sweatshop free' because he pays his workers well and gives them good benefits, but I'm told American Apparel are anti-union.

/then again, unnecessarily powerful unions aren't such a great idea either

thereadlines: I think you have been over-exposed to "A Christmas Story." And Spaceballs is a critical oversight. Stupid that I didn't think of that before you mentioned it. Kentucky Fried Movie should also make the list, possibly replacing Private Benjamin. I could go on and on, but I will at this point also say the There's Something About Mary is way too high on that list.

Overexposure is probably the problem. that and i am not a boomer and did not experience all those cultural touchstones. Then damn TV channels playing the movie, literally, 24 hrs a day didn't help either.

as for There's Something About Mary. Saw it in theatre, enjoyed it, but i do think it was grossly overhyped by critics. Maybe because it was a bathroom comedy that actually sold very well, but who knows.

Was going to snark and complain aboot the lack of Monty Python, but then i checked myself; AFI, and most of them were foreign. The movies, not the actors. Well the actors were foreign too, but i mean the production of the movie.

"Go buy yourself a fag rag."

I never find gay porn just laying around stores. Why the hell not? I am going to demand this service of the places I frequent from this moment forward!

Why is it that every time one gay person does something stupid, it becomes the fault of all of us? I don't support handing out porn to children, that's what the internet is for.

So how much fudge could you pack into that backpack? I mean, if you were a fan of fudge. I'm not. NTTAWWT.

I remember the exact thing happening at Abercrombie stores maybe 2-3 years ago, except the offensive material was posted on the front windows like 8 ft tall. Also they gave out the offensive catalog to young people. The fact is American Apparel is all 100% made in California in sweatshop free factories. Okay, so they left a porno in a backpack, at least they are paying fair wages with great conditions. 99% of the other clothing stores you shop at have waaaay worse working conditions, and the shopping experience is much worse. Had it been a playboy or penthouse, this wouldn't be news.

penthesilea: NSFW? Ad
NSFW? Ad
NSFW? Ad

I'm guessing the mom is unaware of how AA presents itself.


Hey, that last one was just funny. Also, I know Lauren Phoenix from back before she became a porn star (when she studied at Western). I know her real name, but I won't divulge it as she chose to use an alias, so she must not want people knowing her real name.

FTFA: The controversy began this week when a West Vancouver woman, taking her 13-year-old daughter shopping at the store, came across a display that featured an accessible copy of BUTT that contained, as she put it, "a full, double-page spread of two men engaged fully in a sex act."

I hope she cleaned it up.

As an American living in Arabia I often notice when my countrymen at home deride my hosts for their attitude toward women. Insisting that the female body is not fit for public display and demanding that it be covered up amount to misogyny when an Asian does it.

It's freaky how the definition of misogyny flips 180deg when you cross the Atlantic. Back in America it's not the people who are offended by the displays who are misogynistic. No, it's the owner of the store, because he puts up "offensive" displays. Nor is this a fringe idea. Mainstream Americans matter-of-factly regard those ads as offensive and insulting to feminine dignity (an attitude shared by the mosque-going set over here). When American Apparel plasters a wall with pics of a pretty girl apparently enjoying herself in her underwear, you enlightened folk shake your heads and call it "offensive" and maybe a pack of especially progressive feminists will tear it down in their war against "misogyny."

What gets me is that if AA put up the same display in Dubai, and some Arab reacted like the American mom from TFA, you'd call him backward at least. If a pack of bearded dudes stormed the display like radical feminists you'd call them throw-backs and savages for doing the same thing as the progressives.

Butt is a magazine I can get behind.

Bobbette, I'm sure the mom had one of those "Oh my God! What is this! I'm scared!" It's always a shock to parents, when they realize the entire world isn't made baby safe just for them.

I'm sick of these parents acting as if it's reasonable to act like bratty kids themselves, because they have a kid. I have Hyperacusis, which means a sensitivity to sudden loud noises. I've tried asking parents to please be understanding and sit their children away from me. Instead I get, "YOU'RE NOT A PARENT!", and have to contend with their temper tantrum. Some even have made faces at me like you'd expect from an angry child.

Being a parent of a small child, does not mean you are entitled to behave your child's age. When will these people learn that? The problem is when the media and stores keep giving into these dramatic, "I saw something scawy and it made me cwy" pieces from parents, it causes people to see their infantile behavior as normal.

It's gotten to the point where children are having to spend their time raising and disciplining their own parents, telling them to behave and not cause a scene. There should be family sections in restaurant, to keep these selfish parents and their bratty kids away from adults who want to eat. Adults who unlike parents, behave themselves in public.

I hope this isn't seen as threadjacking. I just really am irritated about this constant pandering to the baby-tarded. I'm tired of parents always acting as if they're invisble in public and their actions don't affect others. Or that they're martyrs, and nobody can possibly know the great suffering that comes from having a small child.

The real thing is they don't even care that much about their baby, if they're just letting it cry and cry while they're eating and gabbing with their friends. That's neglect, in full public view, and our society has become so accustomed to it. So accustomed to having to fear parents screaming and shouting when they're told they have to buck up and being a parent. That it's now acceptable to see parents, drag their child around in public, regarding them as little more than an accessory they like to show to others.

ShannonKW: As an American living in Arabia I often notice when my countrymen at home deride my hosts for their attitude toward women. Insisting that the female body is not fit for public display and demanding that it be covered up amount to misogyny when an Asian does it.

It's freaky how the definition of misogyny flips 180deg when you cross the Atlantic. Back in America it's not the people who are offended by the displays who are misogynistic. No, it's the owner of the store, because he puts up "offensive" displays. Nor is this a fringe idea. Mainstream Americans matter-of-factly regard those ads as offensive and insulting to feminine dignity (an attitude shared by the mosque-going set over here). When American Apparel plasters a wall with pics of a pretty girl apparently enjoying herself in her underwear, you enlightened folk shake your heads and call it "offensive" and maybe a pack of especially progressive feminists will tear it down in their war against "misogyny."

What gets me is that if AA put up the same display in Dubai, and some Arab reacted like the American mom from TFA, you'd call him backward at least. If a pack of bearded dudes stormed the display like radical feminists you'd call them throw-backs and savages for doing the same thing as the progressives.

Blah blah blah

This is not what happened here. Move along, keep your life lessons for yourself

I don't know if this is the case in American Apparel stores outside of New York City, but in the ones I've been to, Butt is actually marketed fairly heavily in the store, to the point I'm almost certain they produce and distribute it. There's usually a stack of Butt magazines just kind of chilling out next to the register, though one store had them under glass, which I guess is...better? I'm totally and un-ironically surprised that A. This is an issue and B. That if it has to be an issue, that it took this long to come up.

HappyHarryHardOn: IM a guy and even I find American Apparel s marketing offensive. all their ads are like kiddie porn.

I've had no exposure to kiddie porn, so I'll just have to take your word on that.

Read the article to see if it was actually a gay porn magazine and not something like The UTNE or GQ

And it was?!

What a twist!

NintendoGrl: I'm sick of these parents acting as if it's reasonable to act like bratty kids themselves, because they have a kid. I have Hyperacusis, which means a sensitivity to sudden loud noises. I've tried asking parents to please be understanding and sit their children away from me. Instead I get, "YOU'RE NOT A PARENT!", and have to contend with their temper tantrum. Some even have made faces at me like you'd expect from an angry child.

I'd be tempted to just say "I have hyperacusis, so it may be best if you keep your child away from me. Sorry." - no explanation why or what it is - and see if they just avoid you like the plague. It may be preferable, considering...