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Lawyers Put a Suit on Naked Marketers Abercrombie & Fitch 9/11/2003 Peeping camera caught their clients undressed, they charge.
Some Abercrombie & Fitch customers were secretly photographed in various stages of undress in a dressing room, according to a lawsuit filed against the clothing store chain.
The photos of an as-yet unknown number of unsuspecting customers in the Midland, Texas store were posted on the Internet.
The pictures were allegedly taken by former store employee Kaung Tang, and then downloaded onto a computer by the store’s former manager, Will Rhoads.
The situation came to light when The Midland Reporter-Telegram reported on August 30 that the lawsuit had been filed by a 20-year-old woman.
Parents want to know: was their kid a victim?
Attorneys Brian Carney and Kent Buckingham say they have been swamped with calls from area parents.
“They’re angry, they want to find if their kids’ pictures were taken,” Carney told the Reporter-Telegram.
“Everyone who went into the shop’s fitting room could have potentially gotten their picture taken,” he added, noting that the high number of teenagers frequenting the store makes it likely that a minor could have been a victim.
“I know the cameraman said he took pictures of five or six, and it’s my belief if there’s five or six, then there’s 10 or 15, maybe more,” Carney added. He said the situation came to light when an acquaintance of his client overheard the two men boasting of having half naked photos of her.
A spokeswoman for the Midland store told the press that the case was “a civil matter that doesn’t involve the company,” just hours after the suit was filed in 238th Judicial District Court.
Representatives of the Columbus, Ohio-based chain could not be reached for comment.
Foreseeable consequences?
“Reaching into A&F's deep pocket in this will be a huge challenge for these attorneys,” said Concerned Women for America’s Chief Counsel Jan LaRue. “They’re going to have to prove that the manager and cameraman acted within the scope and course of their employment, which is dubious at best. If what these guys did is also criminal, that will shield corporate headquarters even more.”
But LaRue added that Abercrombie & Fitch should consider such lawsuits a part of the cost for their business tactics.
“A&F has received hundreds of complaints from consumers and decency organizations for years because of its ‘porny’ catalogue featuring nude and semi-nude models,” she added. “A company that does that shouldn’t be too surprised when employees take offensiveness up a notch.”
Along with the roundly criticized A&F Quarterly, the chain features a sexually-charged store environment with poster-sized photographs of naked, though strategically photographed, young people –often in sexual poses. A number of stores have also started playing an in-store video promotion with the same themes.
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