They Only Hire The Beautiful. Is It Wrong?

Abercrombie & Fitch, the well known clothing store, has had to deal with some lawsuits lately, regarding their hiring process. Store managers are told to approach young people, college age, who come into the store and have a pretty face and enticing physique. Abercrombie wishes to arm themselves with a work force comprised of sleek, sexy young people. They, in fact, want their employees to look like their models.

The question is: is it morally right of them to do so? On one hand, it does make sense that Abercrombie would like to promote their product by having gorgeous salespeople. Salespeople who embody the essence of what Abercrombie wants to sell. On the other hand, they could easily discriminate against people for things such as gender, race, religion, etc. Currently, a young Muslim girl is trying to sue Abercrombie for religious discrimination, because they allegedly refused to hire her due to the hi-jab that she wears around her head.

Abercrombie's dress code policy says that employees must not wear hats or other things that cover their face or head, and they also cannot wear the color black. Should they make an exception to that rule due to religious affiliations? Was the young woman's hi-jab truly even the reason she wasn't hired?

Abercrombie proudly declares that it's going for the "all-American look", complete with blue eyes, blond hair, and dazzling smiles. While it is understandable that a popular and well-known clothing brand would want to boost its sales and reputation by hiring a workforce of beautiful people, one must ask themselves when that standard can cross a line. Does Abercrombie hire an incompetent pretty face instead of a competent not so pretty one? Does their dress code and "right look" policy have prejudiced undertones?

Or is Abercrombie & Fitch focusing merely on the bottom line, with no real thought at all going into keeping the religious or the ethnic out of their stores as employees? This situation is in varying shades of gray; it's certainly not clear cut. Abercrombie will have some explaining to do, however, and will have to work hard to prove that their reason for not hiring the nineteen year old Muslim girl were justified, and were not due to religious discrimination.

Will these lawsuits make Abercrombie change its ways and worry less about hiring the hip, young, and gorgeous? We'll just have to wait and see.