Abercrombie& Fitch: Justice, Beauty or Just Another Marketing Strategy My cousin being a former employee of Abercrombie & Fitch came to me upset one day. She had often complained about A&F having very strict rules about how her appearance should be, from what she wears to how her hair should be styled. But today seemed different, she was more upset than usual. After asking her if she was ok she told me how her manager had informed her that the main manager was going to be coming into their store and that she should make sure she “looked skinny”. Hearing that made me upset how does an employer ask their employee to look skinny. So what is justice? According to dictionary.com “justice is the quality of being just; righteousness, …show more content…
Well it’s their image that attracts kids, teens, and young adults towards their brand. Unlike most companies Abercrombie& Fitch puts a lot of work into creating and maintaining their image. For example, you can 't go through the mall without noticing Abercrombie& Fitch (A&F), whether it’s the strong scent of their cologne that hits you while walking past or the models standing outside. Over the years, A&F has been able to paint this image upon our minds that wearing their clothes will give us this status of feeling socially accepted and they convince us using their models and ads to make us believe that wearing their clothes will make us like their models, in other words "beautiful" and "desirable". According to Emily Nichole Pahler, "They send their messages through young models with rock hard abs and perfect hourglass bodies. When young adults purchase the clothes from Abercrombie and Fitch they feel attractive and sexy"(Abercrombie and Fitch: The altering of Cultural Norms 2). Not only that, but their store full of posters of models wearing tight clothes in their perfect slim bodies which suggest beauty with a hint of sexuality. These posters and images appeal to customers, making them believe that wearing A&F’s clothing will give them that same beauty and desirability as their models. Abercrombie and
As a marketing ad, Victoria’s Secret 's The Perfect “Body” ad is very effective. The beautiful girls in attractive bra and panty sets exude an unique mix of class and sexiness that it isn 't easy to do. Even if you are not the size pictured or you do not have the same “perfect” body type, you may believe that you can look sexy in their bra and panty sets. There is also a subconscious element that may lead some young women to feel good about their body and make them feel free to show their body off, if it matches the body type shown. The reverse of that is that for some women the ad would make them feel fat and want to keep their bodies covered up.
Abercrombie & Fitch is one of the leading clothing companies in the world. They manufacture
This company now operates over 300 stores nationwide and sales everything from casual sportswear, jeans, outerwear, sleepwear, and accessories for women, men and kids (New York Times, 2014). Per Abercrombie’s mission statement “ It is our mission to continue ore efforts to support human rights, stand for and achieve diversity and inclusion, invest in our associates, give back to our communities, commit to environmental sustainability efforts and make responsible business decision. We believe in advancing corporate responsibility within our company and our industry. We are passionate about creating a stronger and more positive environment for everyone to enjoy” (Fitch,
Recognized for good-looking, all-American, and typically white male and female clothing models, Abercrombie & Fitch has develop into a special type of model of late-a model of asserted employment discrimination (Stephanie 2005). The clothing idol lately cleared up two private class actions and a civil action law suits by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") by consenting to compensate more than $40 million to African American, Hispanic, and Asian plaintiffs who claimed that Abercrombie discriminated against them (Stephanie 2005); Abercrombie in addition entered into a agreement with the EEOC recognized as a Consent Decree. In Gonzalez, et al. v. Abercrombie, et al., West v. Abercrombie, et al., and EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores, Inc., the plaintiffs disputed that they were either restricted to low visibility, back-of-the-store kind jobs or laid off and fired on the basis of their race or ethnicity.
Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), an American retailer that concentrates on upscale casual wear for young consumers, which was founded in Manhattan, New York City in June 4, 1892 by two young minds of David T. Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch. Beginning with a rough journey of selling sporting outfits and excursion goods such as fishing and hunting equipment, A&F had to file bankruptcy in 1977. Soon thereafter, the company was revived after Jake Oshman, owner of Oshman Sporting Goods, bought A&F in 1978. A&F was relaunched as a mail-retailer company specializing in hunting wear and novelty items, but was bought by The Limited ten years after its revival. The gradual shift to focusing on apparels for young consumers began when A&F was a subsidiary of Limited Brands, and since then, A&F has grown to become one of the largest apparel firms in the United States. In 1998, A&F launched Abercrombie Kids, targeting consumers from age 7-14, which further increases its revenue. In 1999 to early 2000s, A&F’s sales skyrocketed as it hit its zenith, by portraying A&F clothing as the “coolest thing” through billboard-winning song that compliments A&F in the lyrics, as well as other advertisements. Furthermore, A&F launched a subsidiary called Hollister to tackle similar age group of target audience but with lower income. This expansion to dominate the market of teenagers through consideration of other demographic factor, namely income, was exceptional for A&F’s revenue. Presently, A&F focused on
The root cause in the Abercrombie and Fitch case was the company’s practice was to focus their recruiting and hiring of a sales persons around their image, which was around the mantra of “an all American Classic look” and they shied away from individuals that did not fit that mold. Due to this behavior, the company was hit with a lawsuit in 2003 that alleged they violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by placing a targeted focus on their recruiting and hiring that essentially excluded or limited its minority and female workforce population (Wikipedia, 2017).
The company Abercrombie and Fitch has been sued countless times because of the rules the government has imposed on hiring and firing people. Abercrombie is trying to target attractive looking people to their line of cloths. During an interview Salon Jeffries the CEO of Abercrombie stated… his business was built around sex appeal… “He believes that good-looking people attract other good-looking people”… If a clothing line
Hollister and Abercrombie clothing are indeed one of the popular types of clothing among these teenagers with their beach style, young people’s clothing and the fad of today. In turn, implying the thought that if a teen wants to be cool, look sexy, and fit the crowd, then they should go out and buy Hollister clothing. Not only that but Hollister’s style of clothing is more of a beach clothing style, and Hollister sells a wide variety of clothing which includes: shirts, tank tops, and shorts and pants, all for men and women. Hollister’s line of clothing is such a wide variety that its “beach clothing style” can be worn in any season whether it be spring, summer, fall or winter. This persuades very many customers to purchase Hollister clothing. I believe that Hollister’s wide variety of clothing and ability to wear their clothing throughout the seasons, appeals to logos and makes it logical for people to buy Hollister clothing.
Abercrombie & Fitch ANALYSIS REPORT Fundamentals Of Retail Design Group 03 Erik, Herr | I-Chu, Liao | Karan, Shah Kuan-Ling, Tseng | Chen-Hua, Wang ABSTRACT This report intends to analyze the unique brand values, the distinct marketing strategies and the compelling competitive dynamics of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), the noted American retailer of casual luxury wear. The purpose of this analysis being to understand the context and motives that drive brand A&F; to draw insights from it‘s past and current strategies and use these to launch a, new sneaker offer‘ within it‘s existing product ensemble. For doing this, we‘ve researched the story of the brand; it‘s original and potential target market, it‘s financial
This is a difficult question. Was changing their entire market strategy and including a new mission statement merely a rouse to increase profits after an embarrassing lawsuit or truly a desire to earnestly promote diversity? We can only speculate on this. However, the cold facts are that 50% of Abercrombie’s store associates are people of color, 75% of their Executive Vice Presidents are female, they have been listed for ten consecutive years as one of the best places to work for LGBT employees, and they have donated over $110,000 in diversity scholarships. In addition, their new catalogues are incredibly diverse and no longer adhere to one body type or racial profile. So, regardless of their motive, Abercrombie has definitely taken huge precautions
With that being said young women see all the different advertisements and feel the need of having to make their body type look the same as the models shown in front of them. Author Erin J. Strahan mentions in his article that “correlational studies have shown that exposure to the Calle, 2 media is negatively related to body satisfaction and positively related to internalization of a slender ideal body shape” ( Strahan 288). Young women today want nothing more than to have a body that catches the attention of people in a positive way so Victoria’s Secret promotes the idea where in order to do that one must look and feel like one of their models which makes customers want to buy what it is Victoria’s Secret is trying to sell even more. What happens is that customers purchase the lingerie and clothing that makes them feel more sexy and confident however if the clothing does not fit properly then the customer can lose self esteem and want
Despite Abercrombie & Fitch’s efforts to win back loyal consumers with their new rebranding initiative, the company continues to experience a decline in annual revenue and dismal growth coupled with a poor return on investment, making it a risky investment option for potential shareholders. According to the company’s annual report, Abercrombie & Fitch saw a decline in revenue from $4,116.90 billion in February 2014 to $3,744.03 billion in 2015 with fourth-quarter revenues falling nearly 14% to $1.12 billion (Abercrombie & Fitch 41). The company contributed its dismal report to a decrease in the number of operational stores at the end of Q4 fiscal 2014, weak consumer demand for both Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch, slowing growth in
While the company may be seeing the start to its decline, past years are proof that Abercrombie and Fitch have made a good name for themselves. How does the industry operate one might ask? There are many sides to the coin when it comes to determining how this company functions, but let’s start with its
Jefferies was successful in his pursuit and as a result, his exclusionary sentiment permeated the workplace culture of the organization at every level; from the sprawling 300-acre headquarters in the woods of Ohio to each individual retail outlet. At the heart of this culture was the “Looks Policy”, an unforgiving guide to how employees should present themselves at work. This policy governed every aspect of an employee’s appearance from the number of times they rolled the cuffs of their jeans to the tone of their skin, which was preferably ‘sun kissed’. Not only did this policy contribute to a negative work environment where employees felt they were constantly being evaluated on the basis of their physical attributes alone, but it also led to human rights violations wherein job applicants were denied employment on the basis of their race and/or religion. In a 2004 class action lawsuit filed against the retail giant, several thousands of former A&F employees alleged the company discriminated against African-Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans in its hiring practices as well as its advertisements. The claimants also purported that non-white employees were frequently relegated to the back-of-store tasks where they would not be visible to store patrons. A&F settled the lawsuit out of
Abercrombie and Fitch, founded in 1892, is an American clothing company that targets young customers. It is headquartered in New Albany, Ohio, and has over 250 locations in the United States and is expanding internationally. Abercrombie and Fitch is a reputable apparel and lifestyle brand. However, in the past few years, the company’s image has been battered by accusations of discrimination toward minority groups. In this report, I will describe and analyze Abercrombie and Fitch’s current CSR policies and activities, and provide recommendations to improve the company’s brand image. I will focus on the four main social responsibilities that A&F highlights, which are environmental sustainability, diversity and human rights in the employment and its independent contractors, customer care, and the community.