Bikini Blunder: Abercrombie & Fitch Makes Padded Swimsuit for Young Girls

In our inaugural Moms Talk column, local parents discussed the age-appropriateness of . After Walmart announced the launch of a new makeup line for 8- to 12-year-olds, we wondered, how young is too young? And how much is too much?

This week, a similar debate hit the media when Abercrombie & Fitch began selling a controversial new padded bikini top for girls as young as 7.

Inundated by negative response earlier this week, Abercrombie has announced that the swimsuit is now targeted toward girls 12 and older—though they are still being sold in sizes for the younger set.

What’s your take on this marketing effort?  Should retailer ethics be called in to question? As a parent, would you ever let your daughter wear this? Is it horrible—or harmless?

Genevieve Suzuki: I was disgusted to hear about Abercrombie & Fitch’s latest venture. Are they purposely seeking negative publicity? I remember when they released shirts with offensive designs that angered Asian Americans.

Sexualizing children’s apparel only serves to focus inappropriate attention on kids’ bodies. It really saddens me when I hear about children being sexed up. I owned many of my all-time favorite clothes when I was a kid—T-shirts emblazoned with favorite cartoon characters, a neon dress, plaid pants and a Cosby-ish sweater are among my best memories. Stealing kids’ opportunities to wear the fun stuff is almost the kind of thing the Grinch would advocate before his heart grew.

Letters to retailers are extremely important when you feel as though they’ve crossed a line. I also like the idea of writing your representative to push for retailer ethics. It’s sickening to think anyone out there thinks it’s appropriate to outfit a second-grader with anything containing the words “push-up.”

Jennifer Zeglen:  Forget the padding—buying that strapless bikini for a 7-year-old is ridiculous in itself.

We all know our kids are being marketed to all the time. It is a valuable lesson for them that much of the stuff they see is not as valuable as it seems, and they need to be discerning. 

I can somewhat control what my kids get exposed to in terms of commercials and what they see in the stores. They know that the least healthy foods tend to be marketed the strongest and they have received toys they saw on a commercial that turned out to be junk, so they are wary of advertising. But what happens if their best friend shows up to the pool in one of these suits? That is the tough part. 

Judy Halter: This is where parents really need to let their representatives know that it is inappropriate and unacceptable to target these children. 

Parents also need to use it as an example that this is unacceptable to their children—clearly stated so girls know that their value is independent of their appearance and boys understand that girls are not to be looked upon as objects but as people who need to be valued for who they are. 

If we can't control the retailers, we can use this as an opportunity to speak about an important issue. A person's value is determined by what they do and how they conduct themselves, not by things or what they wear. 

Ray Pearson: Ethics are sorely needed by clothing and cosmetic companies marketing products and services to our young people.

I have a daughter and two sons who are constantly being exposed to messages in the media that their self-image is shaped by the looks of actors, sports personalities, music performers and models. My best parenting success is when I see my kids more concerned about their character and relationship to their family, friends, community and the world than about the way they look.

Retailers may change their marketing and product lines when comment boards and blogs are negative to products that sexualize our children and create unhealthy thinking in very impressionable minds.

Meet our moms (and dad):

Genevieve Suzuki has one 2-year-old daughter. In addition to having her own law practice, she writes feature stories for Encinitas Patch. She is also the author of "The Original Poi Cats on O'ahu," a children's book published in Hawaii.

Anastacia Grenda is mom to a 7-year-old son and 4-year-old daughter who never fail to make her laugh every day. She is a longtime writer and editor.

Jennifer Zeglen is a mom to two imaginative girls, ages 4 and 6.  She is also a local naturopathic doctor with a family medicine practice.

Ray Pearson is the father of three children, ages 26, 23 and 17. He lives with his wife in Carlsbad and devotes most of his nonwork time to young people and the Rotary Club.

Judy Adams Halter and Edie High Sanchez are certified Redirecting Children’s Behavior (RCB) instructors with a combined 50 years of parenting experience. Halter is the mother of four children, ages 21, 19, 17 and 14. Sanchez has two grown daughters and three grandchildren; two girls, ages 1 and 5, and a boy, age 7. Both women live in La Jolla.

Do you have questions for our Moms Council?  Email them to the editor at Jennifer.Reed@patch.com.