Abercrombie & Fitch Draws Ire From Taylor Swift Fans - East Idaho News
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Abercrombie & Fitch Draws Ire From Taylor Swift Fans

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GETTY E 111011 TaylorSwiftJPG?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1371910047489Jason Kempin/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — If there’s one group you don’t want to cross, it’s Swifties. That’s what members of Taylor Swift’s mega-fanbase call themselves. They are passionate, devoted and will not stand for any criticism — or even perceived criticism — of their idol.

That’s a lesson clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch learned the hard way this week.

The teen-centric company had a white T-shirt with silver print on the front that read  ”# more boyfriends than t.s.”

Abercrombie & Fitch should have known this was trouble.

The initials were taken to stand for Taylor Swift, the message to refer to her string of high-profile boyfriends, including Joe Jonas, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal and Harry Styles, which has been the fodder of many jokes.

The Swifties quickly mobilized and took to social media to defend the pop star. They even started a Change.org petition directed at the retailer.

One teen had some harsh words for the retailer, which she relayed in a YouTube video she made of herself leaving an angry message on the company’s customer service line.

“I think that this T-shirt was a huge waste of production. It is the most childish thing I have ever seen in my entire life,” the dismayed teen said. “I cannot believe that you guys would go as low to do something like that.”

The company must have gotten many similar phone calls because calls to the company are now greeted with the following message: “Thank you for calling Abercrombie & Fitch public relations. If you are calling regarding the Taylor Swift T-shirt, please note that this is no longer available.”

The clothing retailer also used its Twitter account to profess its love for the Billboard chart-topper, saying, “Hey #swifties we no longer sell the shirt. We <3 Taylor’s music and think she’s awesome.”

The company did not answer the question of whether the shirt’s unavailability had anything to do with the fan response, saying only in an email statement: “We set the shirt at the end of February, marked it down in the middle of March and it is no longer available.”

That was no comfort to the YouTube fan.

“Taylor has over 20 million Twitter followers, and there’s so many people that literally cannot stand Abercrombie & Fitch and honestly, I don’t even care that the T-shirt is out of production,” the teen said. “I will never shop at Abercrombie & Fitch again. I hope your business falls to the ground.”

It looks as if at least one fan will never ever be getting back together with the brand.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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