Abercrombie & Fitch: The Popularly Unpopular Brand

Most consumers, regardless of if we want to admit it are brand loyal. Brand loyalty can pertain to food, clothing, accessories, cars, phones, etc. Personally, I am loyal to American Eagle Outfitters. Their jeans aren’t stiff or thick, two things I hate about some brands. In addition, all their clothing tends to maintain a consistent sizing. For example, I almost always wear a size 8 in jeans at their store. Therefore, if I order a pair online I’m not leery that they may not fit the way I anticipated. Moreover, I think their clothing is of quality. I’ve had some of their items for years, and the product has maintained color, shape, and texture (I am not an American Eagle brand ambassador, I just love their clothing)!

For me to stop purchasing clothing from American Eagle, they would have to do something as awful as… well almost everything Abercrombie & Fitch has done to tarnish their brand since the early 00's. From sexism, body shaming, racism, to classism, this brand has managed to offend nearly everyone. As a result, their brand hasn’t really recovered from their past CEO, Michael Jeffries, remarks as well as company statements via social media.

In case you’re unaware of some of the companies past controversies, I’ll brief you on some of their infamous crisis communication management. In 2006, Jeffries made the statement stating:

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he told the site. 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.”

Unsurprisingly so, this remark did not go over well with many of their consumers. Seven years later, in 2013, people were still highly offended by his statement and it went viral on social media. In fact, it became so viral that a movement called, #Fitchthehomeless arose. This movement began with Greg Karber who disliked Jeffries comments or Abercrombie and Fitch’s ethics. For example, the company burns clothing that is damaged instead of donating it to charity. The point of this movement was to provide clothing to the homeless, but also to debunk the idea of having to look a certain way to wear the company’s clothing. This YouTube video resulted in millions of views and people actively choosing to give used Abercrombie & Fitch clothing to the homeless.

Instead of responding to this social media revolution, Abercrombie & Fitch remained noticeably silent. They never acknowledged the movement or discounted any of the assumptions made about the company. Soon after a petition was created on change.org, that encouraged people to protest the company’s unreasonable beauty standards. The petition received over eighty thousand signatures, and still no response from the company.

Although most of us don’t own a chain retail store as large as Abercrombie & Fitch, a few lessons can be learned from the company’s blunders.

1. Consumers Come First

Although, Abercrombie & Fitch is notorious for not catering to plus size women, there is still a large population of people who enjoy shopping in the sore that may not be considered traditionally thin. Until recently, Abercrombie & Fitch did not exceed a size ten in bottoms or large in tops, because in the words of the company, “he doesn't want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people” (Krashinsky, 2017).

Selling something that only appeals to a certain demographic can hinder the rate of sales and advertising. Although, appealing to a niche market is sometimes understandable and even encouraged it can be damaging to brands. For example, it wouldn’t make sense for Victoria’s Secret to advertise themselves as a children’s retail store when they sell clothing geared towards adults that is often regarded as sexy. In fact, Abercrombie & Fitch ran into a similar problem, when they decided to create thongs for children in 2002. Their response to the inappropriate clothing was: “the underwear for young girls was created with the intent to be lighthearted and cute” (CNN, 2002).

Always consider how your message and intent can come across to people who are interested in whatever you have to offer. This can be related to employers, business partners, consumers, viewers, or whatever your target audience is. Gender, race, ability, age, and size are important things to consider before advertising a product. Offending a demographic of people can largely impact how people see you in the future.

2. What to Do When a Crisis Emerges

We live in an age of technology and social media. Before you know it, something you said or posted over five years ago can come back to haunt you. It can be as embarrassing as an ugly outfit your Aunt uploaded on her Facebook page or as insensitive as a racial slur. Of course, we all evolve and things we believe now may change, however, it is important to take ownership of the past. Abercrombie & Fitch failed to take ownership of some of their mistakes, whether that was in regards to offensive clothing or comments made by the company or their former CEO. Instead the company typically uses deflective language such as, "any misrepresentation of that is purely in the eye of the beholder”, or “I believe this 7-year-old, resurrected quote has been taken out of context” (Chen,2016). Though these statements may be true to the company, they don’t appeal to the public who is looking for a sincere apology and perhaps even in a change in customer service and marketing.

3. Prepare for the Worst-Case Scenario

Even if you don’t think a situation will ever happen, it’s better to plan for the worst-case scenario. In the world of the internet, you never know when someone can dig up something from your past. Or in some cases, an unrelated incident may occur and somehow you become involved in something you were never responsible for. The best way to do this is to apologize through a sincere statement, remain engaged on social media, make relevant attempts to fix the situation, and respond to the incident as soon as possible. You want to maintain credibility, reliability, and consistency.

Works Cited

"Abercrombie Criticized for Sexy Undies." CNNMoney. Cable News Network, 28 May 2002. Web. 19 Mar. 2018.

Chen, Lillian. "Abercrombie & Fitch: Crisis Management – Clear as Mud – Medium." Medium. Clear as Mud, 12 Apr. 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2018.

Krashinsky, Susan. "Fat or Ugly? Abercrombie & Fitch Doesn't Want You." The Globe and Mail. N.p., 26 Mar. 2017. Web. 19 Mar. 2018.