But it's another matter entirely when the cracks about inbreeding come from a corporate entity. Abercrombie & Fitch has issued a $24.50 T-shirt depicting a map of the Mountain State emblazoned with the phrase, "It's All Relative in West Virginia." State officials have asked the clothing maker to cease and desist sales of the shirts.
"A major company that makes quality apparel doesn't need to stoop to these kinds of things," Governor Bob Wise complained on MSNBC, "a T- shirt with a slanderous, unfounded stereotype."
Abercrombie & Fitch has backed down to public pressure before, notably in 2002 when it dropped a line of T-shirts depicting Asian stereotypes and last Christmas when it discontinued a catalog that readers found too racy. But it has no plans to scotch its West Virginia shirt.
Moreover, the company hasn't experienced the same sort of criticism about its shirts from officials in Florida (a chesty girl saying, "Come See Our Naples"); Maine ("We've Also Got Crabs"); or New Hampshire ("40 Million Squirrels Can't Be Wrong").
