Many people will apply for a job at a well-known restaurant as a waitress or waiter, but the most attractive one will most likely get the job. This has begun to occur at clothing stores as well. Businesses have begun to prefer a good-looking person to a qualified applicant. Some companies want to acquire a certain look so they discriminate against others.
When Elizabeth Nil walked into an Abercrombie & Fitch store she was offered a job because she was attractive. This happens many times according to Mr. Serrano, “If someone came in with a pretty face, we were told to approach him or her and ask him or her if they wanted a job”. Attractive people get the job if the store thinks it will help to increase sales.
It is not considered illegal to hire someone who is good-looking, but discriminating on how an applicant may look, is. The director of the Los Angeles office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Olophius Perry, states, “If you’re hiring by looks, then you can run into problems of race discrimination, national origin discrimination, gender discrimination, age discrimination and even disability discrimination”. For example, Abercrombie & Fitch prefers to hire someone they believe has certain physical traits which shoppers will find attractive. According to marketing research if customers see attractive people wearing the brand customers will be more prone to perchance an item. This means people who fit the preferred description of attractiveness will have a better shot in getting the job.
Others may think it is necessary to employ an attractive person. Marshal Cohen says, “Being able to find a brand enhancer, or what I call a walking billboard, is critical”. For example, teenagers will be interested in walking into a store where good-looking people are hanging out. However, teens and other people will not care what the ethnicity the employee is, they will only care if they are attractive. Donna Harper notes, ”The problem with all this image stuff is it just reeks of marketing for this white-bread, Northern European, thin, wealthy, fashion-model look”. Clothing stores look at the white ethnicity as the proper good look.
While the interpretation of what attractive is may be up to the clothing stores, it can lead them to discrimination issues. If you plan on applying to an Abercrombie & Fitch store, you may have tough competitions against a preferable attractive person, unless you are attractive yourself. It all depends on the company standard. Next time you apply for a job, you should make sure you are qualified so there will be no reason for you to not get hired. If the company you applied to work at hires a non-qualified person because he or she is more attractive, you can call for justice.
