Advocate From Where You Stand: Douchebag Edition

If you haven't heard about the recent backlash to Abercrombie and Fitch owner Mike Jeffries' lame-ass comments about his company's branding, you can read about it here. Basically it boils down to, "We don't make larger sized clothes for women because we only target beautiful popular people and you can only be beautiful or popular if you look the way I, Mike Jeffries, dictate." You can read some of this other greatest hits (including how 'cute' he thinks little girls look in thongs--okay Mister cool-not-at-all-creepy-bro.) here.

I actually feel bad for Jeffries and not in that self-righteous smug "well if he doesn't understand that beauty is more than skin deep will he ever truly be rich" way, although that too. Mike Jeffries is basically a middle school girl and can you think of anything worse than living your entire life as a middle school girl? Anything? Think about it. Who are the only people that think wearing Abercrombie and Fitch makes you cool? Middle school girls. What kind of people think that beauty is a zero sum game? Also Middle School girls. Worse yet, if Mike Jeffries were a middle school girl, he would not be one of the popular ones. A quick google image search reveals what I would describe as Gary Busey on steroids and what the above video even more comically describes as old man Biff from Back to the Future. He would be worse off than the unpopular kids, he would be the unpopular kid that THINKS he's one of the popular kids but who all the popular kids secretly ridicule behind his back. So yeah, he sucks but when I was an angsty unpopular middle schooler I was a pretty big asshole too, so I can't really blame him.

Having said that, there are obvious implications for actual middle schools girl and the population at large about what attitudes like Jeffries' contribute to the public conversation about self-worth and body image. Those implications are bad. I've been meaning to screw up my courage to write about the OUTRAGEOUS fat-phobia and understanding of women's bodies as public commodities that pervades our culture but so far all I can manage is an extended shriek.

However, this guy, this Greg Karber guy belongs in the Advocate From Where You Stand Hall of Fame. He bought a bunch of Abercrombie clothing from thrift stores and gave them out to people who are homeless. HOW YOU LIKE YA BRANDING NOW, JEFFRIES? I a little bit want to do this.