Michelle Obama Watch

There is a bit of a kerfuffle surrounding the marketing geniuses over at J. Crew. Not content to let the world figure out that Sasha and Malia were wearing J Crew, J Crew sent out press releases to reporters with style numbers and prices. Politico classified this as “hawking.”

I find it funny that any “newsgathering” organization could accuse a clothing company of “hawking” after the revelation that they have been “hawking” access to reporters. But I digress.From Politico J. Crew hawks first daughter clothes.

J.Crew is using Sasha and Malia Obama to market some of its spring and summer styles, in a press release sent …

… to reporters Monday afternoon titled “The Obama Girls Bring Some American Style to Moscow.”

“Malia & Sasha wore J.Crew and crewcuts as they exited Air Force One in Moscow — stylish in their trenches, they also accessorized with ballet flat shoes,” the release says.

The notice includes two photographs of Sasha and Malia deplaning Air Force One with their parents and an image of the J.Crew logo.

It also offers details about the specific items each of the Obama daughters wore on the way to Moscow and after their arrival, including the prices and style numbers for each piece.

Malia, for instance, was sporting the Silk Taffeta Trench ($298) and black satin ballet flats with contrast trim ($98), the e-mail notes. Whereas Sasha, 8, was wearing the girls’ crushed twill trench ($169.99) and girls’ minna printed ballet flats in classic navy ($108).Politico.com

I think they’ve been doing this for a while so I don’t know that J Crew is doing anything new and I have known other companies to do the same when someone uses their products and it gets attention. What say you? Has J Crew gone too far, or is Politico making much ado about nothing?