USA Gymnastics president Bob Colarossi is asking the clothing retailer to stop selling a T-shirt that has the slogan ‘L is for Loser’ next to a picture of a gymnast on the still rings. The sport’s governing body also asked members to boycott the store until the T-shirt is pulled.
‘No individual, regardless of race, gender, age, intelligence or athletic ability, can or should be deemed a loser,’ Colarossi wrote in a letter to Michael Jeffries, chief executive officer of Abercrombie & Fitch.
‘Athletics as a whole, and gymnastics in particular, provides a great foundation in physical fitness and offers skills for a lifetime,’ Colarossi wrote. ‘… USA Gymnastics feels that A&F has promoted this latest product in hopes of generating public outcry, attention, and media exposure for their brand.’
Abercrombie flinched and yanked the shirt. (Personally I’d like to get one.)
We can all forgive them after seeing an excellent gymnastics promotional video they produced.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Filmed at International Gymnastics Camp in Pennsylvania, the two-minute feature is the first in a “lifestyle” series on Abercrombie Kids’ Web site.
Abercrombie spent three days in April filming the spot, camp director Brent Klaus told IG. After being approached by Abercrombie, IGC put the call out to a few gymnasts who have been coming to the camp for years.
The gymnasts, along with Klaus, can be heard in the video describing the sport of gymnastics.
“Every gymnast who’s in it gave a little bit of input,” he said.
Though doing gymnastics under bright lights wasn’t easy, Klaus said it was a memorable experience for all the gymnasts who took part.
“Abercrombie is such a large company and for them to feature gymnastics was exciting,” he said. “The gymnasts in the film did it just in support of gymnastics, knowing this was an amazing opportunity to promote the sport.”
So … Ambercrombie gets a ton of publicity for the t-shirt stunt. And does not pay the gymnasts. They must be a PROFITABLE company. Sounds like they are winners to me.
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