ANTI-ALCOHOL ADVOCATE GOES AFTER ABERCROMBIE CATALOG

NEW YORK (AP) - The latest catalog from Abercrombie & Fitch has a lot more
than the latest back-to-school fashions.

There are also drinking games and recipes for hard-core cocktails like the
"Woo-Woo'' and the "Brain Hemorrhage.''

The head of Mothers Against Drunk Driving bashed the trendy clothier for
encouraging behavior that many of its customers aren't even old enough to do.

"This catalog is an abomination,'' MADD President Karolyn Nunnallee said
Friday. "They are a company that is in a position to influence, and whether
or not they are making a profit they have a responsibility and that
responsibility is not to promote unsafe behavior.''

About a million copies of the catalog, touted as part magazine, were
distributed about two weeks ago in the company's 165 stores and by subscription.

The retailer admits it went too far in an A&F Quarterly story titled
"Drinking 101.''

"In retrospect, the company feels that it should have initially provided
balance in that story,'' said Lonnie Fogel, a company spokesman at its
Reynoldsburg, Ohio, headquarters.

The two-page story gives directions for "creative drinking'' that students
can substitute for the "standard beer binge.'' Drink recipes include the
"Woo-Woo,'' a mix of vodka, peach schnapps and cranberry juice, and the
"Brain Hemorrhage,'' a combination of strawberry or peach schnapps, Bailey's
Irish Cream and grenadine.

An accompanying circular chart has photos of the 10 drinks in shot glasses
and can be used as a spinner for drinking games, the story said.

The catalog features photos of muscled, sometimes shirtless men with
fresh-faced women - all in Abercrombie fashions. It also includes stories on
travel, book and film reviews, advice for heading back to school and an
article on campus streaking.

Nunnallee wants Abercrombie to discontinue distribution of the 215-page
catalog, issue a letter of apology to everyone who received it and devote at
least one page in the next four issues to underage drinking and drinking and
driving.

For now, she'll have to settle for warning stickers affixed to catalogs not
yet distributed and postcards to subscribers with the same message, which
also appeared on the company's Web site.

The stickers say, in part: "We don't want to lose anybody to thoughtlessness
and stupidity. For some, part of college life includes partying and drinking
- - be smart and be responsible.''

Fogel said the catalog "aims to be a chronicler of the American college
experience today'' and that experience, at least for some, includes alcohol.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett