I was just thinking the other day about Abercrombie. What use to be a big name in clothing for tweens and teens seems to have fallen by the wayside. I considered the fact that I was just too old to care about the brand, but then the news report on Abercrombie selling push-up bikinis for 7-year-olds confirmed my thinking.

In my opinion Abercrombie felt they were falling off the map and needed a publicity stunt to get their brand back in the news. The company has never been afraid of controversy, using half dressed models at their storefronts and in catalogs.

The news has broke about the retailer’s push-up bikinis and parents are appalled. Exactly what the retailer was probably hoping for as its target audience’s, tweens/teens, natural tendency is to rebel and do the opposite of what their parents say.

Abercrombie’s response to this attention was simply “We’ve re-categorized the Ashley swimsuit as padded. We agree with those who say it is best ‘suited’ for girls age 12 and older.” This certainly isn’t an apology, but rather appears a very calculated action. After all you can clean up a pig, put a ribbon on its tail, spray it with perfume, but it is still a pig!