Recently in the past year, the popular clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch has gone under fire as a result of controversial statements made by CEO Mike Jeffries. Abercrombie & Fitch targets a specific target market of “cool” teenagers. The overlying problem is that while they target “cool” teens, they exclude the “uncool” and “unattractive” kids.
Jeffries is quoted saying, “Candidly, we go after the cool kids… A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”
Why would a business such as Abercrombie & Fitch exclude such a large market with more than two-thirds of America’s population being obese? It’s very likely that sales may decrease as a result of this bad publicity, A&F being seen as a very controversial and exclusive brand. However, at the same time, they are able to effectively create a stronger brand identity. No brand can effectively target an entire market. By targeting a specific demographic and making statements like A&F, while they are excluding a large portion of the market, it is an audience they are not trying to reach while at the same time making those who do fall within that category more loyal.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2013/05/16/abercrombie-ceo/
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