ORIGINAL ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH AD

Abercrombie is infamous for using sex to market their clothing brand. Although the company has recently rebranded themselves, their previous longstanding marketing strategy used images of young, hot, and barely clothed models, exactly like the ad above. This ad suggests that by wearing Abercrombie and Fitch’s clothing, the consumer can look young and sexy like the models in the photo. There’s a couple of thing wrong with this photo. First, it implies that this is how teenagers should look if they want to be hot, and has set unrealistic standards on what teenagers should look like. Young and sexy are two words that should not be used in a marketing ad intended for a young audience as it sends an inappropriate message. The second thing, the company has done an excellent job of implying that their clothing is directly associated with being attractive. By hiding the model’s faces, their clothing, and how it looks on their slim and fit bodies, becomes their defining features. Their tight, low rise jeans and cropped, tight, and low-cut shirts (or lack of shirts) stand out and take credit for the sexiness of the models. In 2013, the company’s CEO, Mike Jeffries, stated that “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids… we go after the cool kids.” This is proof that Abercrombie and Fitch has purposefully associated their brand with “being cool,” a strategy that is dangerously effective to a young, impressionable audience. The third thing, Abercrombie and Fitch is known for frequently using images of passionate/sexual encounters between models. This type of imagery suggests that sex is what makes teenager “young and sexy,” again, a very dangerous message to send to young audiences. This ad objectifies men and women and uses sex to sell their clothing.

JAMMED ABERCROMBIE AND FITCH AD

In the Jammed version of Abercrombie and Fitch’s ad, I added the words “you’re only cool if you’re” before the original ad’s words, “young and sexy.” This jammed version now clearly states the company’s intended message, that teenagers need to be young and sexy to be cool, which is achieved by wearing the company’s clothes. This is a brilliant marketing strategy by the company, but as made more obvious by the jammed version, a dangerous strategy. Abercrombie and Fitch is targeting a highly impressionable, young audience and telling them that they need to buy their clothes and look sexy to fit in with their peers. For many young adults, fitting in and being cool is the most important thing to them and they will do anything to ensure that they achieve this, despite the consequences. Paying too much for a certain brand of clothing is not the most harmful thing to a young consumer. However, being convinced that they have to look sexy/participate in sexual encounters to be cool is much more harmful, an idea that Abercrombie and Fitch implement in their ads. Using sex and objectifying young men and women is not an uncommon marketing strategy nowadays, however, Abercrombie and Fitch is one of the few companies that use young models to sell sex to a young, impressionable audience and that is not okay. The jammed version of Abercrombie and Fitch’s ad makes it obvious what the company’s underlying message is and hopefully helps young consumers realize how ridiculous and transparent the company’s marketing strategy is.