RETAIL Abercrombie & amp; Fitch responds to complaints

The company embarked on a new national advertising campaign.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- In Abercrombie & amp; Fitch's newest publication to promote itself, most of the models wear clothes.
The clothing retailer has introduced a photo essay for customers and subscribers of its racy A & amp;F Quarterly that the company discontinued at Christmas.
The photo essay and a new national advertising campaign represent a major shift for Abercrombie, whose old Quarterly and some of its clothing designs offended religious groups, feminists, minorities and others.
"It's just a new direction," said Tom Lennox, spokesman for the suburban New Albany-based retailer, whose fashions are geared toward college-age people. "It plays to a wider audience. We think it best represents the elements of the brand."
Speaking without words
The essay for summer is called "young" and features 60 pages of black and white photos, mostly of young models wearing Abercrombie clothes in summer-like settings of palm trees, water, beaches and playing with dolphins.
There are few words in the photo essay and the only way to know that it comes from Abercrombie is the company name and Web site, www.abercrombie.com, printed on the back cover. Both covers are white and the word young is written on the front.
"If you look through the photo essay, it represents many of the elements of college life. It's young men and women having fun," Lennox said.
The photo essay is not as provocative as the old Quarterly, which typically had young, scantily clad or nude models, often in sexually suggestive poses. It was wrapped in plastic and had a sticker on it that said it was not for sale to anyone under 18.
The photo essay has no description of the clothing or its cost, nor any order form.
Unlike the Quarterly, which cost $12 a year, the photo essay is free, but it is not in stores and is being mailed to customers and former Quarterly subscribers.