Going For The Look Analysis

“Going for the Look” Employment Discrimination

The cliché “don’t judge a book by its cover” is hopelessly lost on the people of the younger generation in this modern day. People in general have these subconscious desires to intermingle with others who “look” a certain way. Retail marketing companies such as Abercrombie and Fitch have implemented these emotional impulses as a marketing strategy to the point at which practice has become policy. Marketing is being taken to new heights. In today’s society, not only do companies spend a majority of their money on advertising, but they also use their employees as portable posters. If employees were supposed to be “walking billboards,” then most people would agree that not everyone would
What some corporations are doing today is clearly unjust. People cannot control their appearance completely. Mr. Greenhouse clearly states in his article that hiring certain people that “look great,” is discriminatory and should not occur. That is why the author’s premises are invalid with exceptions, with Mr. Cohen’s analysis. It is a known fact that one cannot sell everything by appearance alone. Mr. Cohen, a senior industry analysis with the NPD Group, stated, “Retailers defend the approach to hiring based on image as necessary and smart, and the industry experts see the point.” Cohen asserts that hiring based on looks is necessary in order to make a profit. He states, that stores have developed new ways to attract the attention of consumers to their brands, by hiring young women who contribute to a store’s sense of style. He concludes that young men are attracted to stores that hire attractive young women and those young men and women are used sex symbols in many retail stores. Every company would love to get by without spending one dime on advertising. This shows that ugly people don’t get hire; companies don’t care about job experiences. They care whether you are attractive or not. Ugly people
Every corporation is aware of employment discrimination lawsuits increasing on a yearly basis. However, one type of lawsuit that employers often overlook is the case of age discrimination. When the average girl sees a super model such as Britney spears wearing Abercrombie and Fitch they think the key to being beautiful and popular is to match their wardrobes. Age discrimination can be obvious such as hiring a younger, inexperienced, more attractive person for a position than an older person with a strong background in a similar position. Alternatively, it can be subtle. Transferring an older person when the person reaches 60 to a less demanding, unrewarding job, filling in the vacancy with a younger employee, or inheriting a new boss that creates a miserable environment for the administrative assistant so the person will quit. Even if the older worker were with a lower paying, lower level job, this still would be difficult because the employer would have probably started at the bottom of a new job where salary is not comparable. Recently a bill was introduced to accept positions that earn 70% or more of past salaries. Older workers also suffer from the discrimination that younger workers prefer to work around people like themselves. Younger workers felt older workers were like their mom and dad and did not want to supervise them, felt they were less competent, they might know more than