Fashion label Abercrombie & Fitch has offered a substantial amount of money to the cast of the hit MTV show Jersey Shore to stop wearing their clothes! Apparently Mike ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino and Snooki don’t fit the A&F target audience and apparently they don’t wish to turn into another Ed Hardy (ouch!)
Abercrombie and Fitch released the following statement: “We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino’s association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image. We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans.
We have therefore offered a substantial payment to Michael ‘The Situation’ Sorrentino and the producers of MTV’s Jersey Shore to have the character wear an alternate brand. We have also extended this offer to other members of the cast, and are urgently waiting a response.” MTV has reacted to this absurd offering by saying it’s a “clever PR stunt and we’d love to work with them on other ways they can leverage Jersey Shore to reach the largest youth audience on television.”
As expected members of the cast haven’t taken this as lightly as MTV, ‘The Situation’ tweeted a link to a story about A&F’s stock dropping 10% after they made this offer. Jersey Shore premiered in 2009 and is one of MTV’s highest rated shows. The show has had it’s share of criticism for glamorizing crass behavior, casual sex, Italian-American stereotypes, heavy alcohol usage and more. The cast members have yet to formally respond to the offer from Abercrombie & Fitch.