Daily Mail American Apparel Hypocrisy

[Update at end of post]

Security is tight at Northcliffe House nowadays, and one thing not getting through the door is irony, as Mail Online has demonstrated with the headline “'Fuelling Lolita fantasies and rampant sexism': American Apparel accused of 'resorting to underage porn' to sell its 'Back to School' range of miniskirts”. And what crime has American Apparel committed to attract the ire of Dacre’s finest?

What's f***ing wrong with my paper's website, c***?!? Er, with the greatest of respect, Mr Jay

“American Apparel has been accused of resorting to 'underage porn' to advertise its 'Back to School' range of miniskirts. The fashion retailer, renowned for its provocative campaigns, posted an image of a girl wearing one of the skirts on its UK Instagram page yesterday. In the photo, the model is seen bending over a car in the green plaid skirt - with both her bare legs and part of her buttocks on display”.

What, you mean like all those items in the “Sidebar of shame”? But let’s get to the point here: the Mail is the last to have any room to call out others for exploitation of young women. The terms “Lolita fantasies” and “rampant sexism” could easily be applied to much of Mail Online’s clickbait, given the number of underage girls and even young children that appear there.

Photos of little children right next to, er, complaints about "underage" photos

The site has specialised in leering narrative and creepy captions. This behaviour is not limited to isolated occurrences. Paris Jackson (13 at the time), Nicole Kidman’s 16-month-old daughter, Jennifer Lopez’ two year old twins, Halle Berry’s two year old daughter, Brad Pitt’s two year old twins, and Miranda Kerr’s five month old son were all “growing up fast”.

It gets worse: although the post calling Heidi Klum’s eight year old daughter a “leggy beauty” later had the offending wording removed, there were also Jennifer Garner with her two daughters (7 and 4 years old), Ariel Winter (15) and her niece Skylar (a toddler), Myleene Klass’ two year old daughter, and 19-month-old Harper Beckham being described as “runway ready” (ie a budding model).

Not completely creeped out yet? As the man said, there’s more: several shots of Kourtney Kardashian’s one year old daughter in a string bikini (plus her three year old son), Farrah Abraham’s four year old daughter (and the full title of her sex tape), and Minnie Driver’s little boy (plus a similarly aged friend).

And there’s more Kardashian Kreepiness: lots of pics of Kim’s daughter North, taken with the obligatory long lens, Chantelle Houghton’s toddler daughter Dolly, Sarah Michelle Gellar’s four year old daughter, plus another of those “growing up fast” moments, with 13 year old Sophie Nelisse (in four inch heels). That’s an awful lot of encouragement for all those paedophiles we are told are out there.

You want more examples of those “Lolita fantasies” and “rampant sexism”? See HERE and HERE. Creepy hacks in draughty glasshouse no shock horror.

[UPDATE 8 August 1820 hours: as the Independent has had to point out, "American Apparel did not post a 'back to school' upskirt photo".

The photo that caused such outrage to the Daily Mail, and was indeed removed later, did not have any direct link to the "Back to School" section of American Apparel's site.

Yes, American Apparel has form when it comes to objectifying women, but what the Mail told its readers was, not for the first time, inaccurate. No change there, then]