Thongs for little girls and a poor recipe for getting out of an insider stock trading scandal helped land Abercrombie & Fitch and Martha Stewart at the top of a list of public relations blunders this year.
A&F landed in the No. 1 spot by alienating consumers and the nation’s press with its racially offensive T-shirts portraying slogans and stereotyped images of Asians. Added to that it debuted thong underwear for girls as young as 10 years old, said a statement from Fineman PR, which compiles the list each year.
As for Martha, her "peaches-and-cream" reputation soured amid the swirl of the Imclone insider stock trading scandal that sent her stock plummeting but bought her the No. 2 spot on the list, the statement said.
The list identified 10 "winners," and also named the two America West pilots, fired for allegedly being intoxicated while operating the plane, Jerry Falwell for calling Mohammed a terrorist and Andy Rooney for saying that women shouldn’t be commentating for broadcast networks on the sidelines of a football game.
