Abercrombie & Fitch Has A Choice To Make
It’s no secret that the upscale fashion retailer known for its heavily perfumed garb and loud in-store music is also notorious for its exclusivity. In a 2006 Salon interview called “The man behind Abercrombie & Fitch,” CEO Mike Jeffries said:
“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”
It was a controversial statement back then, and now that it has resurfaced alongside claims that the retailer refuses to make plus sizes for women, it is again. In full force, thanks to the power of you-know-what.
First I saw the Change.org petition encouraging others to join in the fight “by adding your name to this petition and asking Abercrombie and Fitch to embrace the beauty in all sizes by offering XL and XXL sizes for women and men!” As of today, it has 22,592 supporters.
Then I read about the teens that protested outside of an A&F store in Chicago on Monday. Not really national news, but a response nonetheless.
Then I saw this video. L.A.-based filmmaker Greg Karber took to the streets in an attempt to take the A&F brand…and re-brand it. With homeless people. The video starts off by attacking Jeffries’ comments (and appearance), then shows Karber handing out A&F garments to homeless people. In the end, he gives viewers this homework: scour your closets for A&F clothes, and donate them to homeless shelters. Oh, and of course, “share what you’re doing on Facebook and Twitter” using hashtag #FitchTheHomeless. The goal? To make A&F “The World’s Number One Brand of Homeless Apparel.”
It’s been three days since it went live, and so far, the video has collected over 4.5 million views and counting, and around 43k likes. Not surprisingly, #FitchTheHomeless has trended, getting RTs after RTs.
Many are in agreement. “Every brand has a target group, that’s fine,” comments one person. “But to be so blatantly proud about trying to exclude certain people is awful. The money of the ‘not so cool’ is just as green. As a company you should aim for your target group and take any extra customers as a plus and keep your uninspired statements to yourself.”
But then there are those who aren’t with Karber. One commenter wrote: “Amazed at how no one can recognize that #fitchthehomeless is just as bad and condescending towards the homeless as the comments made by the CEO of A+F. Don’t try and hurt a brand for being exclusionary by choosing the homeless and deeming them the worst possible representatives you can think of…”
Whichever point-of-view suits you best, we can all agree on something: it’s A&F’s move…right? Will they respond in some way? Will they pretend this isn’t happening? Will they not even care? They have a choice here: React or resume like normal. To all the marketers and brand representatives out there, what would you do? (And if you can’t answer that, give us a call…we’re good at this stuff. And we think everyone is cool.)
