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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, April 18, 2002: When T-shirts depicting Asian people in a demeaning manner appeared on the shelves of Abercrombie and Fitch in the Bay area in April of this year, Asians have reacted accordingly. One of the shirts has a slogan that says, “Wong Brothers Laundry Service…Two Wongs Can Make It White.” Two smiling Chinese men in conical hats, a 1900’s stereotype, are pictured beside the lettering. Another said, “Wok-N-Bowl…Let the Good Times Roll…Chinese Food and Bowling.” The Stanford’s Asian American Student’s Association has been complaining bitterly to Hampton Carney, the representative for the Public Relations firm hired by Abercrombie. Carney says, “We personally thought Asians would love the T-shirt.” He goes on to say that, “We poke fun at everybody, from women to flight attendants to baggage handlers, to football coaches, to Irish Americans to snow skiers. There’s really no group we haven’t teased.” However Austin Chung, 23, of Palo Alto, the business manager for the quarterly Asian-focused magazine Monolid sees the situation in a much different light. “Abercrombie and Fitch is producing popular culture, and they cater to the views of the majority. You have to ask yourself, who benefits, who gets empowerment, from these kinds of images? It denigrates Asian men.” Michael Chang, vice-chairman of Stanford’s Asian American Students Association says, “The stereotypes they depict are more than a century old. You’re seeing laundry service. You’re seeing basically an entire religion and philosophy being trivialized.” The company hasn’t done any t-shirts on Hindus, yet.

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