Initial launch of the "magalog" Abercrombie & Fitch introduced
A&F Quarterly as a marketing tool to express the A&F lifestyle. for its purpose of serving as both a magazine and a catalog for the A&F brand. Its contents focused on entertaining, and giving advice to, the collegiate youth with an emphasis of having youthful fun and exploring sexuality. The company collaborated with prominent figures in the fashion marketing world to produce the publication: Savas Abadsidis, Sam Shahid, and
Bruce Weber. Weber had been recognized before for his erotic
beefcake photography, and Shahid was notable for his
Brooke Shields' "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins"
Calvin Klein and his
Banana Republic's "Free Souls" campaign. The two had previously worked together at Calvin Klein. For the
Quarterly, Abadsidis served as editor-in-chief, Shahid as creative director, and Weber as exclusive photographer. Weber splashed
A&F Quarterly with nudity (though non-
frontal) and erotic
heterosexuality and
homosexuality.
A&F Quarterly made its debut in June 1997 and quickly became popular. nonetheless, parents complained that the publication found its way to younger-aged children. According to A&F's initial
complaint, the company identified
A&F Quarterly as one of its "unique and inherently distinctive features" :
the creation of a cutting edge "cool" image through photographs and advertising and promotional material, such as the A&F Quarterly (the "catalog" or "Quarterly"). The Quarterly
presents the Abercrombie brand and trade dress in a unique manner: namely, it features the Abercrombie brand and trade dress in a "cutout" or "clothesline" style [as opposed to only depicting models wearing its apparel] and uses color bars to illustrate the available colors of the item, while combining a consistent conceptual theme with a lifestyle editorial content of music, electronics, books, and magazine features. The catalog is printed on cougar vellum paper, which is unique for a catalog. The district court ruled that what A&F described as its distinctive
trade dress was (in the words of the appellate court) "too generic and descriptive" to warrant protection under the
Lanham Act. The
Center for Science in the Public Interest also protested the "Drinking 101" promotion, which advised: "Rather than the standard beer binge, indulge in some creative drinking this semester." The article included recipes for ten mixed drinks and a spinner featuring pictures of each drink, intended to be used in various drinking games. Abercrombie & Fitch ordered the drinking game pages removed from its stores' remaining copies In 1999,
Illinois lieutenant governor
Corinne Wood called for a consumer boycott of Abercrombie & Fitch because of the sexually explicit nature of the
Quarterly "Naughty or Nice" holiday issue, which included nude photographs and an interview with porn star
Jenna Jameson. Among the images that stirred controversy was a picture of
Santa and Mrs. Claus engaging in
sadomasochistic behavior, across the page from the statement "Sometimes it's good to be bad." The Illinois Coalition of Sexual Assault assisted the boycott. That same year,
Michigan attorney general (and later governor)
Jennifer Granholm sent a letter to the company complaining that the holiday catalog contained sexual material that could not be distributed to minors under Michigan law. The catalog featured an A&F "sexpert" who offered advice on "sex for three" and told readers willing to "
go down" on a date at the movies that it was acceptable, "just so long as you do not disturb those around you." Four states threatened legal action over the issue. Creative Director Sam Shahid generated more criticism with his January 2003 statement: "We don't buckle under to criticism. We feel we're right about what we're doing, I'm not out to hurt anybody and nobody is damaged by any of this."
The decision to discontinue For Christmas 2003, Abercrombie & Fitch released its most controversial
Quarterly yet. It was 280 pages and was subtitled ''
David Abercrombie &
Ezra Fitch's Christmas Field Guide
. The cover proclaimed in bold letters, "280 pages of moose, ice hockey, chivalry, group sex and more." While protest was mounting, a former model revealed that subjects unwilling to go nude were dismissed by Weber and Shahid, and that Weber constantly pressured them to "act sexier". Chairman and CEO Mike Jeffries stated that he ended the Quarterly
because he was "bored" with it. Supposedly, the Quarterly
was discontinued because it took up time and money that should have been allocated to more important company issues: "It was more trouble than it was worth." Store sales had been declining, with a major fall in November 2003 of 13%. As a result, the analysts/investors were being hit really hard financially. It was expected that without the weight of the Quarterly
, A&F could focus more on producing better results for upcoming fiscal quarters. Analyst Robert Buchanan from A.G. Edwards & Sons wrote to investors that A&F Quarterly'' was unimportant in his view, and, that by recognizing this, A&F should be able to bring business back up by focusing on its clothing. Jeffrey Klinefelter of
U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray echoed this sentiment, hoping that the US$33 used towards the publication and marketing would help launch a successful Spring Break 2004. The decision did not change the contempt with which some community-focused groups viewed Abercrombie & Fitch. The big question on every critic's mind was addressed by the Focus on the Family: "[Abercrombie & Fitch] will stop producing pornographic catalogues, but what will replace them?" Phil Burress, president of
Citizens for Community Values, commented that "they [Abercrombie & Fitch] have a track record of sexual exploitation and there are many different ways to continue that campaign." Burres had previously posted an advertisement in
The Wall Street Journal to question if A&F's investors really knew what they were investing in.
Alissa Quart penned the book
Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers and had negative view towards the defunct publication: "It became more of an emblem than anything else. It served as an icon for the hypocrisy of America's attitude toward youth, using it as a sign of innocence while at the same time peddling a semi pornographic catalogue at them." ==Absence (2004–2007)==