Celebrities like Paris Hilton and Tiger Woods get paid enormous sums of money to wear certain brands because of their high level of coolness. Apparently, Jersey boy Mike Sorrentino has a reverse situation on his hands. Abercrombie & Fitch have come forward saying that when Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino wears the Abercrombie & Fitch brand, he is actually harming the reputation of the clothing company.
Abercrombie & Fitch is well-known for hiring preppy fraternity and sorority-looking types in their retail stores, but this is the first instance that I’ve heard of Abercrombie & Fitch actually getting angry at someone for wearing the Abercrombie & Fitch brand. The clothing company is so concerned that their precious reputation will be harmed by Mike Sorrentino that they have actually offered him money not to wear their clothes. The Situtation fired back on Twitter with clever word play and tweeted that: "Looks like Abercrombie got themself into a Situation!"
Forbes has the down-low on the situation with Abercrombie & Fitch. Apparently, neither Mike Sorrentino nor The Situation had a formal relationship with Abercrombie & Fitch, which puts this particular celebrity branding in an extremely gray area. That said, it’s pretty clear that Mike Sorrentino didn’t exactly start wearing Abercrombie & Fitch shirts for no reason. According to Forbes, the Abercrombie & Fitch shirt “The Fitchuation” was one of the companies best-sellers when it was first released.
Abercrombie & Fitch are not looking so good in this particular news item. Why on earth would they release a mocking t-shirt of someone and then try to stop the person being mocked on the actual t-shirt from wearing it? Of course, as Forbes notes, it could be because Abercrombie is just not feeling the love for Mike Sorrentino or “The Situation.”
“When we look closely at this broken love story, we realize that it was never really about love. True love between a brand and a celebrity involves synergies. Having something in common on a deep level, like Intel and, well, any technology brand.”
The love story between Mike Sorrentino and Abercrombie was never about love in the first place and looks as if it will not end well. I don’t know yet if Mike Sorrentino has taken any money from Abercrombie or if the company has any legal way to actually stop him from wearing their clothes. I’m not even sure how Abercrombie was able to use “The Situation” name on their t-shirt without permission.
All I know is that if I were in Mike Sorrentino’s shoes, I would throw an elaborate Abercrombie & Fitch party with the least attractive, least palatable peeps that I could find around.
Just to piss Abercrombie off by showing that uncool people can actually wear their clothes.