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Abercrombie drops catalogue, promises ‘innovative’ replacement

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–Retailer Abercrombie & Fitch announced Dec. 9 that it would no longer publish its racy quarterly catalogue that portrays pictures of nude and nearly nude models.

In a statement, the company said it “has enjoyed success” with the quarterly but that “it is time for new thinking.” The company said an “innovative and exciting campaign” would debut in the spring.

The move is considered a victory for pro-family groups who had criticized the company for its racy image. Some groups, including Focus on the Family, had called for a boycott.

“Americans have over the past few weeks sent a message to this company that the sexual exploitation of teenagers to sell clothes is unconscionable,” Focus on the Family President Don Hodel said in a statement. “Now Abercrombie & Fitch is starting to see the financial repercussions of its sleazy sales techniques.”

But Focus on the Family founder James Dobson expressed caution at the news, noting that Abercrombie has yet to unveil its replacement campaign.

“There is no evidence that they have changed their minds about the sexual exploitation of teenagers being a perfectly acceptable way to make a buck,” he said in a statement. “Indeed, pictures of nude young people still hang on the walls of A&F stores!”

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R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., had been among the catalogues’ critics.

“Many will argue that this is just no big deal. It’s just clothing,” he wrote in his Crosswalk.com weblog in September. “No, it’s not just clothing, just advertising or just publicity. It’s buying into a lifestyle, rewarding pornography and advertising sexual promiscuity. Abercrombie & Fitch is laughing all the way to the bank, aided and abetted by America’s parents.”

James A. Smith Sr., executive editor of the Florida Baptist Witness, had urged Southern Baptist teenagers to stop shopping at Abercrombie.

“As I travel around the state and visit our churches, I’m struck by the frequency with which I see youth wearing A&F apparel,” he wrote in a 2002 editorial. “I believe it’s time for Southern Baptist youth to rise up and take a stand against A&F. What a statement it would make if our youth would take the lead in boycotting A&F. Youth leaders should help their students understand why we should not assist A&F in advancing its perverse agenda by buying its products.”
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