This week’s top news: Abercrombie & Fitch has “offered a substantial payment to Michael ‘the Situation’ Sorrentino and the producers of MTV’s The Jersey Shore to have the character wear an alternate brand.”

A&F: "Not Our Kind of People."

News forums of all stripes—ranging from the well-respected (The Wall Street Journal) to the advertising savvy (AdFreak) to the celeb obsessed (People)—decided that a supposed dust-up between a faux celebrity and an over-priced teen clothier is a big deal.

In their press release, A&F claims that their association with “The Situation” is “contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans.”

A number of questions arise about this claim, but to sum it all up: You’re kidding, right? Isn’t it newsworthy that Abercrombie just pulled off a terrific publicity stunt? That they garnered oodles of free publicity by pretending to distance themselves from a demographic they routinely pander to?

You see, the fit, young and sexy rule the world in Abercrombie & Fitchland. “Models” (not just lowly “customer service attendants”) help you at the register. The advertising for Abercrombie & Fitch is formulaic. At least one topless male plus at least one scantily clad female and voila!—an instant provocative wholesome ad campaign for all the tweens, teens, young adults and parents that squeeze into A&F merchandize and insist, “I’m sooo cool!”

Young. Lacking in clothes. Washboard abs. Does any of this sound familiar? Oh right – that kinda sounds like the cast of Jersey Shore. All in all, the idea that “The Situation’s” persona is “contrary to the aspirational nature of (Abercrombie & Fitch’s) brand” rings hollow.

We are distancing ourselves from those kinds of people

Why, just last summer Abercrombie & Fitch cashed in on the Jersey Shore. People loved to hate the Jersey Shore cast. And as Oprah would say, this was an “ah-ha” moment for A&F’s publicists: Let’s embrace today’s pop culture controversy and start selling “The Fitchuation” t-shirts!

The fact that Abercrombie & Fitch now wants to distance itself from Mike Sorrentino seems ludicrous. Each and every blog and TV news story has planted a picture of “The Situation” right next to the name “Abercrombie & Fitch.” Simply Google “Abercrombie and Fitch,” and you’ll see the fourth and fifth autofill options are “abercrombie and fitch the situation” and “abercrombie and fitch jersey shore.”

So, what’s the point of all of this? According to Abercrombie & Fitch’s news release, second quarter results show a net sales increase of 23% and net income increase of 64%. To stay on course with these numbers, someone seems to have decided that a bit of trumped-up controversy was needed.

The proliferation of blog posts relating to A&F’s stunt shows that Abercrombie & Fitch’s PR team is pretty darn smart. As A&F phrased it, it’s a “Win-Win Situation:” Abercrombie & Fitch gets more free publicity than they could ever buy, and “The Situation” and MTV get some extra cash to go with their free publicity.

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