“That’s why we hire good-looking people. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to anyone other than that.” Quoted by Abercrombie & Fitch CEO, Mike Jeffries in an interview.
Mike has also stated that he doesn’t want “fat” or “ugly” people to wear his clothes, making his brand “exclusionary” to unattractive people. His statements have generated a large amount of attention online and negative feedbacks on social media causing a plunge in brand perception compare to H&M and America Eagle from customers ranging from 18 to 34 years old as shown below.
One of the unsatisfied customers, Kreg Barber made a video of “Fitch the Homeless” by donating Abercrombie & Fitch clothes to the homeless people, creating a brand readjustment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv8Ias5Yg0A
As one of the angry customers when I heard of Mike Jeffries comments, my perception of A&F immediately changed. Despite feeling unsatisfied, brand positioning came to my mind. Obviously, brand positioning is very important as it’s all about working with the customers mind. It is said to be difficult to change a consumers’ impressions once it is formed. I believe this blunt comment will affect A&F’s brand perception in the long run, making it difficult to recover. Even though apologies and justifications have been made from Mike Jeffries, this propaganda will not be wiped out from this history. Mike should reconsider on how to bring his brand back up into the market, rebuilding an influential brand recognition to overcome this bad reputation. After all, it is easy to say but difficult to do so..
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/16/abercrombie-reputation-ceo-comments_n_3288836.html
VERY GOOD 10/10!