Abercrombie & Fitch shares fall day after 'Jersey Shore' diss, as 'The Situation' hits back

NEW YORK (NewsCore) - A day after Abercrombie & Fitch Co. offered to pay "Jersey Shore" castmember Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino not to wear its merchandise, the American teen apparel retailer's stock price finished down almost eight percent Wednesday.

However, the declining stock was not because of the company's efforts to improve its brand image by keeping it far away from Sorrentino -- instead it followed a disappointing conference call after its quarterly earnings report, The Wall Street Journal reported.

But that didn't stop Sorrentino attempting to jump on the news and link it to his own situation.

He tweeted a link Wednesday afternoon to an article about A&F's stock dropping after its Tuesday announcement -- in which the company stated a "deep concern" over the association between Sorrentino and the brand.

"Looks like Abercrombie got themself into a Situation!" Sorrentino tweeted.

Paul DelVecchio -- aka DJ Pauly D -- also got in on the act, tweeting a photo of a T-shirt bearing the cast's signature "G.T.L." (Gym, Tan, Laundry) catchphrase and the brand name "Fitch."

"Hmmm if They Don't Want Us To Wear Those Clothes Why Make GTL Shirts," DelVecchio tweeted.

In a statement titled "A Win-Win Situation," the New Albany, Ohio company Tuesday said it would offer a "substantial payment" to Sorrentino "to wear an alternate brand."

Sorrentino, one of the most popular characters on the show, is known for lifting up his shirt off to reveal his abdomen muscles, more often flashing the logo on the waistband of his underwear.

As retail analysts at Nomura Securities pointed out in a research note Tuesday evening, Sorrentino was seen in the most recent episode of "Jersey Shore" wearing a pair of neon green A&F sweatpants "loudly [and proudly]" on the streets of Florence.

"We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans," the A&F statement read.

The company also extended the pay-to-not-play offer to the other Jersey Shore reality stars and said it was "urgently waiting a response."

But MTV -- which screens "Jersey Shore" -- called the A&F announcement a marketing ploy.

"It's a clever PR stunt, and we'd love to work with them on other ways they can leverage Jersey Shore to reach the largest youth audience on television," an MTV spokesperson said in a statement reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

SOURCE LINK: https://www.newscore.com