Going for the Look Article
Name: ______________________
Period: ______________________
Date: ______________________
Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination by Steven Greenhouse
The New York Times, Sunday, July 13
A funny thing happens when Elizabeth Nill, a sophomore at Northwestern University, goes shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch. At no fewer than three Abercrombie stores, she says, managers have approached her and offered her a job as a clerk. “Every time this happens, my little sister says, ‘Not again,’” said Ms. Nill, who is 5-foot-6 and has long blond hair. She looks striking. She looks hip. She looks, in fact, as if she belongs in an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. Is this a coincidence? A fluke? No, says Antonio Serrano, a former assistant Abercrombie store manager in Scranton, Pa. It’s policy. “If someone came in with a pretty face, we were told to approach them and ask them if they wanted a job,” Mr. Serrano said. “They thought if we had the best-looking college kids working in our store, everyone will want to shop there.” Abercrombie’s aggressive approach to building a pretty and handsome sales force, an effort that company officials proudly acknowledge, is a leading example of what many industry experts and sociologists describe as a steadily growing trend in American retailing. From Abercrombie to the cosmetics giant L’Oreal, from the sleek W hotel chain to the Gap, businesses are openly seeking workers who are sexy, sleek or simply good-looking. Hiring for looks is old news in some industries, as cocktail waitresses, strippers and previous generations of flight attendants know all too well. But many companies have taken that approach to sophisticated new heights in recent years, hiring workers to project an image. In doing so, some of those companies have been skirting the edges of antidiscrimination laws and provoking a wave of private and government lawsuits. Hiring attractive people is not
Period: ______________________
Date: ______________________
Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination by Steven Greenhouse
The New York Times, Sunday, July 13
A funny thing happens when Elizabeth Nill, a sophomore at Northwestern University, goes shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch. At no fewer than three Abercrombie stores, she says, managers have approached her and offered her a job as a clerk. “Every time this happens, my little sister says, ‘Not again,’” said Ms. Nill, who is 5-foot-6 and has long blond hair. She looks striking. She looks hip. She looks, in fact, as if she belongs in an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. Is this a coincidence? A fluke? No, says Antonio Serrano, a former assistant Abercrombie store manager in Scranton, Pa. It’s policy. “If someone came in with a pretty face, we were told to approach them and ask them if they wanted a job,” Mr. Serrano said. “They thought if we had the best-looking college kids working in our store, everyone will want to shop there.” Abercrombie’s aggressive approach to building a pretty and handsome sales force, an effort that company officials proudly acknowledge, is a leading example of what many industry experts and sociologists describe as a steadily growing trend in American retailing. From Abercrombie to the cosmetics giant L’Oreal, from the sleek W hotel chain to the Gap, businesses are openly seeking workers who are sexy, sleek or simply good-looking. Hiring for looks is old news in some industries, as cocktail waitresses, strippers and previous generations of flight attendants know all too well. But many companies have taken that approach to sophisticated new heights in recent years, hiring workers to project an image. In doing so, some of those companies have been skirting the edges of antidiscrimination laws and provoking a wave of private and government lawsuits. Hiring attractive people is not