Okemos - A group of about 10 students was asked to leave Meridian Mall on Wednesday for passing out fliers and talking to Abercrombie & Fitch officials about T-shirts they say reinforce racial and ethnic stereotypes.
The group searched store tables for the $24.50 T-shirts, which were removed from stores last week and featured slogans such as “Wok-N-Bowl - Chinese Food & Bowling” and “Wong Brothers Laundry Service - Two Wongs Can Make It White.”
The group met in the Multicultural Center on Wednesday to create fliers listing demands from a petition that is circulating on college campuses, such as a public apology from Abercrombie & Fitch, the development of a diverse advertising campaign and diversity training for workers.
Hampton Carney, company spokesman for Abercrombie & Fitch, said the clothing company has apologized to the public for creating the slogans and selling the T-shirts. Company officials are not planning to meet the demands on the petition.
“We are very, very sorry for offending customers,” he said. “It was never our intention. We got calls on Wednesday afternoon that expressed the offense taken. By Thursday morning, we were calling off all our shirts that offended the Asian American community.”
But Carney said the company has experienced scrutiny before for designing clothing that wasn’t meant to be taken seriously.
“We have a line of cheeky and irreverent T-shirts,” he said. “In the past, we have poked fun at other groups, Irish and Italians. No one is safe from our teasing. But we have obviously offended a group of people. We removed them immediately.”
Sarah Wahab, a communication senior and Asian Pacific American Student Organization member, said she wants to see an apology printed in newspapers and magazines from corporation leaders.
“I don’t think they’ll offer an (additional) public apology,” she said. “They didn’t understand why they were offensive in the first place.”
Marc Johnston, a human biology junior and organization member, said he hoped the store manager understood why people were upset with the designs on the T-shirts.
“We’re hoping they listened to us and had an open mind,” he said. “Take the flier, see that the shirts are racist. We’re trying to fight against stereotypes. We’re trying to put pressure on them. Schools around the nation are fighting to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Manprit Oberoi, a human resources junior and member of the organization, said the use of their culture and religious symbols made the shirts offensive.
“We want an official apology from them,” she said. “You don’t do that. We don’t want to start anything, we just want to educate people.”
