By Allie Martin
November 5, 2001

(AgapePress) - A Christian record label has asked clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch to pull all music from the Christian rock band Relient K from the store and its online site.

Relient K, a Christian rock band promoted by Gotee Records, was blasted earlier this week when pro-family groups discovered the group had agreed to let their music be played during short video clips in Abercrombie & Fitch stores nationwide. Abercrombie & Fitch has been a target of pro-family groups because of the sexually-explicit images in their clothing catalog.

Joey Elwood, president of Gotee Records, says the culture of the clothing retailer, referring to the images in the catalog, is "not something we condone." He says the intent was for Relient K to be salt and light in society.

"I felt like the line we were drawing was consistent with what we had been doing for years, and that we were entering into a domain that we couldn't control -- a secular domain -- in order to offer a choice to consumers," Elwood says. "But I and my partner and the band are walking in faith that there's a larger work at hand here that these other organizations are trying to accomplish -- and we do not want to get in the way of that."

Elwood says Abercrombie & Fitch officials have not yet decided if they will be able to remove Relient K's music from its stores. According to the record executive, the music is used as a background score for a short video clip of mountain biking.

Critical Coach
Meanwhile, a former NFL football coach and current NASCAR race team owner says he had to speak out recently about what he calls the "vulgar" catalog marketed by Abercrombie & Fitch to teenagers. Former Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs recently wrote a letter to Abercrombie & Fitch, blasting the clothing retailer for using explicit photos in its catalogs. He says Christians must not be silent about social issues that affect the morals of the nation, and that they have a responsibility to speak out and stand up against immorality.

"I think anybody that feels like ... things are wrong and it's the wrong way of doing things ... need to speak out," he says. "Certainly I felt this was wrong. You would hope that people wouldn't think targeting kids with sexually-explicit material is the best way to sell a product."

Gibbs says he personally could not be silent over the issue. "To me it was a shocking revelation that one of the top [apparel] companies in America ... thinks that they need to market to our young people ... with sexually-explicit material," he says. "I thought it was a shame, and ... I know a lot of people have been embarrassed about it [and] probably don't even know about it."

Gibbs recently encouraged people to boycott Abercrombie & Fitch because of the provocative photos in its catalog. "What I wanted to try and do is help, along with a lot of other people, to try and get the word out so maybe a lot of other young people will choose to buy their clothing somewhere else," he says.

Gibbs made his comments at the recent Winston Cup racing event in Talladega, Alabama.

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