Urban Outfitters Should Be 'Rated R' for Violence Against Health - Girls' & Women's Especially

The 'Cigarette' Jeans. That's why.

In fact, there's a whole line dedicated to 'Cigarette' Jeans. So how do they compare to other styles/fits, say, for example, 'Skinny' Jeans [which, yes, they do in fact carry as a separate line]?

The descriptions for each are as follows:
Skinny - Regular Rise, Slim Fit, Skinny
Cigarette - Regular Rise, Super Slim Fit, Super Narrow Leg

Skinny, apparently, wasn't skinny enough.

According to their website, Urban Outfitters' brand profile reads:

'Urban Outfitters operates more than 130 stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, all offering an eclectic mix of merchandise. We stock our stores with what we love, calling on our — and our customer's — interest in contemporary art, music and fashion. From men's & women's apparel and accessories to items for the apartment, we offer a lifestyle-specific shopping experience for the educated, urban-minded individual in the 18 to 30 year-old range — both online and in our stores as well as through our catalog.'

Legal jargon, that last part [in bold] appears to be, because adults [age 18 and over] are certainly not their only consumers [of their clothes or messages]. T(w)eens make up a huge portion of their consumer base, if not the majority. Likewise, 'educated' is a far cry from true.

How educated, for example, would you assess this 'Smoking Smarties' middle schooler?

Lloyd Johnston, a researcher at the University of Michigan for Monitoring the Future, an NIH-funded study, reported the end of last year:

'While great strides have been made in reducing youth smoking in this country, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Among high school seniors in the Class of 2009, 20 percent have smoked in the most recent month and one in nine (11 percent) is a current daily smoker. Further, our follow-up studies have shown that a number of the lighter smokers in high school will convert to heavy smoking after leaving high school.

Given what we know about the consequences of smoking, this is still an unacceptable level of involvement.'

Urban Outfitters' Company Profile reads:

'Our established ability to understand our customers and connect with them on an emotional level is the reason for our success.. The emphasis is on creativity. Our goal is to offer a product assortment and an environment so compelling and distinctive that the customer feels an empathetic connection to the brand and is persuaded to buy.'

..And they forgot, perhaps, use.

This is not the first time, however, the retailer sparked controversy. On Wikipedia, there's an entire list, referencing at least eight separate incidences. The last reads:

'In May 2010, Urban Outfitters released a shirt that read "Eat less." The shirt was widely criticized for promoting anorexia, especially since the model that adorned the shirt on the website was considered to be extremely thin. The company soon pulled the shirt from the website altogether.'

Extremely thin.. yet over 18?..




So the shirt was 'pulled from the website altogether'. Hurrah! Right?


But check this out:
Type in the Search Box of the Urban Outfitters' retail site: 'EAT LESS'.

You'll find it does NOT return 'NO ITEMS FOUND', as typically would be the case for gibberish, but instead directs you to the 'Tops -> Basics' category, displaying nearly 48 images of ultra-skinny women [perhaps girls, too].

Shutter.

Education, including health, occurs everywhere - *Everywhere* - Not just the classroom.

Is this the kind of education you want to buy, wear, endorse, breathe, consume, become? Food for thought.

Happy Healthy Juicy Fashion Shouldn't Hurt or Harm!