Nancy Lu, in her blog post Abercrombie’s Exclusive Marketing? criticizes the Abercrombie’s extremely exclusive marketing tactic of only targeting thinner women by refusing to stock women’s XL or XXL sizes.

In 2013, the American retailer Abercrombie & Fitch caused a scandal well known as the “skinny scandal” in which the company was hugely criticized for the CEO, Jeffries’ remarks about plus-size women. “A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely,” Jeffries had said, in a 2006 interview with Salon.

To have the CEO of a universally renowned company like Abercrombie proudly stating that the company doesn’t want to market anyone other than cool, good-looking, attractive, and skinny people is very tragic; being a tremendously influential company to the teenagers of this era, Abercrombie should change their marketing strategies and furthermore take on the leading role in embracing the diversity of race, gender, and body types.

Why not have a “revolution” and start using “real-sized” models or hiring store workers from diverse backgrounds? By extensively changing its marketing strategies and broadening its customer segment, Abercrombie will be able to increase profit, repair its reputation, and most importantly cause positive change in the world – after all, there is no exact definition of “beauty.”

Sources:

Nancy Lu’s blog post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/nancylu/2014/10/05/abercrombies-exclusive-marketing/

http://www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-wants-thin-customers-2013-5

http://www.salon.com/2006/01/24/jeffries/

Photos:

http://www.abercrombie.ca/