A few weeks ago, the American fashion store Forever 21 released a new clothing line. That itself is not something spectacular, but “Love 21 Maternity” is, as the name already says, a maternity line. And that in a store, which aims at customers of ages between 14 and 25.

And that is not all: Currently, the line is only available in five US-States. Two of these five states, California and Texas, have had the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the last years. Now of course one will ask, to what extent this was a criteria to promote the new line in exactly those states.

(via)

Surely, it is profitable to promote the line in those states, where they will be bought the most – that is a general marketing stragedy right out of the books. But do they not promote teenage pregnancies at the same time? Is Forever 21 actually now glamourizing teenage pregnancy?

In a recent press release, Forever 21 denies the claims made: “Forever 21 did not create, design or distribute Love 21 Maternity to target, or appeal specifically to pregnant teens. Any relationship between teen pregnancy rates and the locations of our stores is unintentional.” (source)

I too have often bought at Forever 21. And there are many adults, who are over 25 years old that buy clothes there, because the clothing selection is modern, but inexpensive. Various clothes are also not too teenage-like; there are several things one can still wear in the end 20′s. Probably, there are also many pregnant women now, who are excited about the new line, because they do not have to wear the “ugly bags” which other stores sell in the maternity line.

But I still think the “Love 21 Maternity” line is giving a bad example. No matter if the places where the line is avaiable was intentional or not (although seriously, this can so not be unintentional). Fact is that the majority of Forever 21 customers are younger than 20 years old. And that is by no chance the perfect age to get pregnant. During their weekly shopping spree, some naive teenagers, who are not taught the facts of life concerning sexuality and pregnancy in school or by their parents (and there are still way too many of these kind of teenagers out there!), will now think: “Being pregnant young is not as uncool anymore!” Or even worse: If a 16-year-old girl gets pregnant and has one of those famous parent-daughter talks, she will say: “But even Forever 21 sells maternity clothes!”

Surely, some would now argument that the Plus Size line therefore glamourizes obesity. But an overweight teenager only carries responsibility for herself; a teenage mom carries the responsibility for two then. And that is a big difference!