Legalize LA

Legalize LA was billed as an education and media advertising campaign. Choosing to advertise social causes not directly related to the fashion company's product has drawn comparisons to campaigns done by advertisers like United Colors of Benetton and Nike. Legalize LA participated in the May Day protests in 2008. American Apparel employees were given the day off work to participate. The company also maintained a Legalize LA portion of their website that featured news articles relating to immigration reform, the brand and information on the history of the issue. Ads Legalize LA ran advertisements that pushed for the legalization of the country's illegal alien workers in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. The ads appeared in both Spanish and English. One ad featured a quote from President George W. Bush expressing the need for immigration reform and asked why nothing had been done. They also placed two large banners across their downtown factory that read "Legalize LA" and "Immigration Reform Now!" ==Reception==

The company's message was later endorsed by California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, according to the Los Angeles Times. He gave a speech denouncing ICE's raids on "nonexploitive" companies underneath the Legalize LA banner at the downtown Los Angeles factory alongside company executives. The videos feature the group picketing outside of the company's Hollywood store. American Apparel also received hate mail regarding the campaign which they subsequently posted online. Angered by the company's politics, a group launched a website called BoycottAmericanApparel.com that gave away stickers to participants. The campaign also inspired Vice Magazine to release a video documentary called Illegal LA - Immigration, Deportation, and the Right to Work that featured Dov Charney and other immigration figures. ==Legalize Gay==

In November 2008, after the passing of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages in California, American Apparel created "Legalize Gay" (a play on Legalize LA) T-shirts to hand out to protesters at rallies. The reaction was so strong, American Apparel began selling the same shirts at stores and online. On July 20, 2009, the window of an American Apparel store was broken by vandalism in response to the campaign. In the next two days, employees at the Silver Spring location as well as the Georgetown store received threatening phone calls, with the perpetrators demanding the T-shirts be taken down. American Apparel asserted the company would not take the T-shirts down and instead, insisted every store in the Washington DC area display a "Legalize Gay" shirt. The company also offered to give the shirts to any gay rights group in DC who wanted one. The company has also been criticized for carrying Butt Magazine, a gay culture publication, though American Apparel refuses to discontinue carrying it citing it as an "important gay culture publication" and freedom of expression. ==See also==