Legalize LA was an activist campaign promoting

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offic ...

for

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...

, propagated through billboards, protests, clothing, advertisements, educational pamphlets, and grass roots support, underwritten by

American Apparel American Apparel Inc. is an online-only retailer and former brick-and-mortar stores operator based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney in 1989, it was a vertically integrated company that ranked as one of the ...

.American Apparel Scoops the Candidates on Immigration
Suman Raghunathan. January 18th. 2008 Originating locally in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, the company took the campaign national in early 2008.

Campaign

Legalize LA was billed as an education and media advertising campaign. According to Dov Charney, Legalize LA was an open alternative to private

lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, whic ...

. Charney also stated that the cause is part of the core of the company. Choosing to advertise social causes not directly related to the fashion company's product has drawn comparisons to campaigns done by advertisers like United Colors of Benetton and Nike. American Apparel released a line of T-shirts featuring the words "Legalize LA" that were sold in its retail locations. The company donates the proceeds of the shirts to Los Angeles-based immigration rights groups. Legalize LA participated in the

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Tr ...

protests in 2008. American Apparel employees were given the day off work to participate. The company also maintains a Legalize LA portion of their website that features news articles relating to immigration reform, the brand and information on the history of the issue.

Legalize LA ran advertisement

that pushed for the legalization of the country's illegal alien workers in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

''.American Apparel Ad
Featured in the ''New York Times''. December 2007 The ads appeared in both

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

and English. One ad featured a quote from President George W. Bush expressing the need for immigration reform and asked why nothing had been done. It ended with the words "It's time to Legalize LA and the USA." Ads have also implied that the current laws constitute an "apartheid." Another campaign used an excerpt from John F. Kennedy's essay, '' A Nation of Immigrants''. The company also put up billboards, bus stop ads and posters throughout Los Angeles. They also placed two large banners across their downtown factory that read "Legalize LA" and "Immigration Reform Now!"

Reception

The company's message was later endorsed by

California Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Ass ...

Speaker Fabian Nuñez, according to the ''

''. He gave a speech denouncing

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...

's raids on "nonexploitive" companies underneath the Legalize LA banner at the downtown Los Angeles factory alongside company executives. One group responded by picketing the company's store in Pasadena, California with signs that said "Legalize LA: Deport Immigrants". A group called Save Our State uploaded a series of protest videos on YouTube renaming "Legalize LA" as "Amnesty for Illegal Aliens." The videos feature the group picketing outside of the company's Hollywood store. American Apparel also received

hate mail Hate mail (as electronic, posted, or otherwise) is a form of harassment, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient. Hate mail often contains exceptionally abusive, foul or otherwi ...

regarding the campaign which they subsequently posted online. Angered by the company's politics, a group launched a website called BoycottAmericanApparel.com that gave away stickers to participants. The campaign also inspired ''

Vice Magazine ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media ...

'' to release a video documentary called ''Illegal LA - Immigration, Deportation, and the Right to Work'' that featured Dov Charney and other immigration figures.

Legalize Gay

In November 2008, after the passing of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, American Apparel created "Legalize Gay" (a play on Legalize LA) T-shirts to hand out to protesters at rallies. The reaction was so strong, American Apparel began selling the same shirts at stores and online. On July 20, 2009, the window of an American Apparel store was broken by vandalism in response to the campaign. In the next two days, employees at the Silver Spring location as well as the Georgetown store received threatening phone calls, with the perpetrators demanding the T-shirts be taken down. American Apparel asserted the company would not take the T-shirts down and instead, insisted every store in the Washington DC area display a "Legalize Gay" shirt. The company also offered to give the shirts to any gay rights group in DC who wanted one. The company has also been criticized for carrying ''

Butt Butt may refer to: * Figurative or literal ''blunt ends'': ** Butt joint, a woodworking joinery technique ** Butt splice connector, a type of Crimp connection#Simple crimp connectors, crimp electrical connector ** Buttstock or butt, the back par ...

'' Magazine, a gay culture publication, though American Apparel refuses to discontinue carrying it citing it as an "important gay culture publication" and freedom of expression.Mother criticizes American Apparel store for displaying porno magazine
CBC News

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Official Legalize LA HomepageWhat Does Legalize LA Mean?
(pdf)
Legalize LA Photos
(Flickr) American advertising slogans 2008 neologisms Advertising campaigns Illegal immigration to the United States Immigrant rights activism Immigration-related protests Organizations based in Los Angeles

Campaign

Ads

Reception

Legalize Gay

See also

References

External links