With the exception of the news that Abercrombie & Fitch would soon be closing 60 retail outlets in the U.S., I hadn’t heard much about the store since that wonderful LFO hit from 1999. But last week, a group of angered teens gathered outside an A&F in California to protest the store’s apparently incessant spraying of its Fierce brand scent, which they claim is both noxious and obnoxious.

Carrying posters like the one seen here and signs with slogans like “A&F Fierce Is Toxic” and “A&F Fierce Damages Sperm Count,” the group, called Teens Turning Green, cite a recent study that claims Fierce contains:
*11 chemicals not listed on the label.
*8 sensitizing chemicals associated with allergic reactions such as asthma, wheezing, headaches and contact dermatitis.
*Diethyl phthalate – a chemical linked in recent human studies to sperm damage in adult men, abnormal reproductive development in baby boys, and behavioral problems in children.

According to the protesters’ site, on a daily basis, “A & F requires staff to repeatedly spray Fierce in the store’s dressing rooms, retail space, on the clothing, and from ceiling sprayers that blow the spray outside the stores into the commons.”

Perfume Protest: Teens Storm ‘Toxic’ Abercrombie & Fitch [Time.com via Racked]

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