Abercrombie & Fitch Co.’s HOLLISTER Models Mock Asians at Opening of South Korean Store

Photo Credit: Shine! Yahoo

Foreign Hollister models visiting Korea to advertise the opening of Hollister American clothing company have taken pictures that make fun of Asians and started a controversy about racial discrimination.

English-language site KoreaBANG reported that some of the four models at the Abercrombie and Fitch Co.-owned brand’s South Korean grand opening in the Seoul neighborhood of Yeouido a little over a week ago flashed middle fingers during promotional photos and posted Facebook photos and Twitter and comments mocking Asians’ appearance and pronunciation of English.

On August 30, famous American clothing brand Hollister brought in four foreign models to attend the opening of their first Korean store at the Yeouido location, where they took photos with customers. The event, which lasted until September 2nd, is part of Hollister’s distinct marketing campaign whenever it opens a new store. Customers are able to take photos with the models, all of them robust foreign men dressed like lifeguards, wearing nothing on their chests but whistles.

The four-day event has been overshadowed by an unexpected controversy.

One of the models who attended the opening posted a picture to his twitter (@vin_****) of himself taken in front of Gyeongbokkung Palace with his eyes squinted closed and his lips open. Netizens who saw the photo pointed out how it was making fun of Asians with “squinty eyes”. Another model from the same Hollister event posted similar photos to his Twitter account.

One Twitter user who seems to have worked with the Hollister model before commented on his photo, “please look at how many Asians liked that picture… impressive.” The problem lies in the fact that the original poster of the photo replied with another comment making fun of Asians. The model mocked Asians’ typical English pronunciation, saying, “Hahahaha they ruhhvvvv itttt!”

Yet another model has also been involved in a scandal. The third model was captured exposing his middle finger in an insulting gesture during photos. Furthermore, the same model was photographed in poses that mocked Asians during his visit to Hong Kong which took place before he came to South Korea.

Having heard about the issue through social media, Korean netizens are showing their displeasure. One comment online read “I feel like we must at the very least start a boycott of Hollister. How deep is their discrimination against Asians if they have no problem taking such pictures and uploading them to social media for a laugh?” Another netizen stated with dismay, “I’ve got to go and return the clothes that I bought.” Other users online were so enraged that they sought out the online profiles for the first Hollister model and posted the personal information online.

It was reported that the models responsible have been fired, and provided a company statement that reads: "On behalf of our more than 80,000 associates around the world who cherish our core values and our culture of diversity and inclusion, we sincerely apologize for the offense caused by these unauthorized, ill-considered actions."

"We sincerely apologize for the offense caused by these unauthorized, ill-considered actions,” the company said in a statement about the South Korea incident. “Abercrombie & Fitch (as well as Hollister Co.) has now completed the investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding the inappropriate behavior. We reiterate that we do not tolerate inappropriate or offensive behavior on the part of our associates. As a result of the investigation, the company terminated the couple of associates involved."

Source: KoreaBang