Abercrombie & Fitch
Abercrombie & Fitch was founded in 1892 as a sporting-goods store, catering to the rich, and selling hunting, fishing and camping gear and outdoor clothing. Over the years it adopted the slogan "The greatest sporting goods store in the world," and it probably was, occupying an entire 12-story building on Madison Avenue in New York crammed with everything a sportsman could desire. However, by the 1960s and 1970s the business was floundering after adding stores in other locations and focusing on discount and women's clothing. In 1976 it filed for bankruptcy.
The business went though two changes of ownership and was finally rescued when Michael Jeffries became CEO in 1992. He abandoned sporting goods and decided to go after the affluent teenage and college clothing market. He also knew that sex sells. He hired photographer Bruce Weber to create racy ads, like the one above in which girls are chasing naked guys. The boxer shorts that the guys are holding are almost incidental.
This ad goes even further. How can a clothing store ad not show any clothing at all? Simple. The ads aren't selling clothing; they're selling an image. An image of a rich, successful and sexy lifestyle that deep in your subconscious you will identify with Abercrombie & Fitch.
In 1992 Abercrombie & Fitch launched the publication A&F Quarterly with articles about sex and pop culture and lots of photographs by Bruce Weber that reinforced the rich, preppy, sexy image.
Like this guy. Is that his private helicopter, that perhaps he likes to fly naked?
Or this guy. Perhaps you'd like to join him viewing a film in his private theater. Naked, of course.
Even rich preppy guys can cool down with a simple garden hose – as long as they look really sexy while doing it.
The "sex sells" strategy was also used for Gilly Hicks, Abercrombie & Fitch's subsidiary selling women's lingerie, as in this 2010 ad.
This giant billboard covering the entrance to the Abercrombie & Fitch store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan says it all. It's all about the crotch.
A&F CEO Michael Jeffries was not known for being subtle. In a 2006 interview he said that his clothing was for cool people, and he didn't want overweight or unattractive people to wear his clothes. Not coincidentally, A&F didn't offer women's clothing in plus sizes. Needless to say, that, as well as the ads, generated criticism from feminists and others. In 2014 he was replaced as CEO, and in 2015 the company abandoned the "sex sells" strategy, getting rid of the shirtless male greeters in its stores, as well as the racy ads.
Oh, well, it was good while it lasted.
3 comments:
If he changed his sales strategy, he had good reasons. But what a pity not to see the muscular guys shirtless anymore!
I remember the moral guardians getting in a tizzy because their magazine endorsed mutual masturbation. Something I'd been doing with my friends since before puberty TBH.
It was just accepted back then, time has changed
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