Group opposes naming of facility

Group opposes naming of facility

Various children’s hospitals have been named for big-donor companies.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Clothing retailer Abercrombie Fitch relies on racy, provocative marketing campaigns aimed at teenagers and should not be allowed to put its name on the new emergency room of a children’s hospital, an advocacy group said Tuesday.

Research has shown a link between sexualized images of teens in the media and mental health problems in girls, including eating disorders, low self-esteem, anxiety and depression, according to the Boston-based Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.

Abercrombie has pledged $10 million toward the construction of the emergency department at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.

Major financial supporters always are recognized with wall plaques or some other kind of honor, but officials haven’t determined if Abercrombie’s name will appear on signs in and around the emergency department to open in 2012, said Jon Fitzgerald, president of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Foundation, the hospital’s fundraising arm. The hospital previously has referred to the project as the Abercrombie Fitch Emergency Department and Trauma Center.

The advocacy group is not asking the hospital to give back the money. But in a letter faxed to the hospital Tuesday and signed by about 70 pediatricians and academics from around the U.S., the group urges hospital executives to drop any plans to put Abercrombie’s name on the project.

“Given this company’s appalling history of targeting children with sexualized marketing and clothing, no public health institution should be advertising Abercrombie Fitch,” the letter states.

Susan Linn, director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said the issue was brought to her attention by a medical professional at the hospital who was unsuccessful in getting executives to reconsider the Abercrombie deal.

Fitzgerald had no comment on the advocacy group’s letter, other than to say it will be discussed internally and that the hospital appreciates Abercrombie’s philanthropy.

Last year the hospital renamed itself after Columbus-based Nationwide Insurance in exchange for a donation of $50 million over 10 years. Other corporations have lent their names to children’s hospitals, including toy company Mattel Inc., which supports Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA in Los Angeles.

Abercrombie spokesman Tom Lennox declined to comment Tuesday on the advocacy group’s complaint.

“We are proud of our long-standing relationship with the hospital and pleased to help secure its bright future,” he said in a statement. Abercrombie last month announced a $10 million gift to the Ohio State Medical Center, which plans to use the money to support research in digestive diseases and cancer treatments for women.