Abercrombie and Fitch: Are Jeffries marketing tactics bad?

You’ve most likely read or heard something about the 2006 interview that Abercrombie & Fitch CEO, Mike Jeffries, gave to journalist, Benoit Denizet-Lewis. Within that article, for Salon.com, Jeffries off-the-wall personality really came to light. With bizarre musings about what an “A&F guy” should be to the blatant dislike for those that Jeffries deems “unattractive,” albeit in poor taste, are Jeffries marketing tactics bad?

The answer to this question is no. The 68-year-old creeper-like millioare is marketing Abercrombie and Fitch in precisely the way the company should be marketed, in line with Jeffries customer base and bottom objective. To better explain the madness behind the marketing are some words from Bruce Clark, Associate Professor and Group Coordinator, and Frank Murphy, Family Fellow at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University.

Professor Clark shares these thoughts about the Abercrombie and Fitch firestorm. “Regarding its own customers, A&F is doing what any good firm should do: pick a target market and serve it well. They don’t carry large size women’s clothes. They also don’t carry toddler clothes, clothes for elderly people, pet food, or bicycles. A&F serves a certain population with a specific offering. Cultivating a brand image through a clear value proposition to a defined target market is good marketing.”

Taken purely from a marketing prospective, Mike Jeffries is doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing. Of course there is a whole other element to what Jeffries is doing. Professor Clark explains, “I see the marketing problem as how A&F is treating people who aren’t its customers. Your mother’s rule is right here: ‘if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.’ You don’t see the chairman of BMW saying, ‘Poor people aren’t worth our time.’ Talking about cool kids and being exclusionary of the uncool is stupid and, on the Internet, stupid is forever.” Clark adds, “It’s especially stupid when you’re dealing with a topic as sensitive as teenagers and weight.”

Benjamin O'Keefe of Orlando, Florida has started a petition on Change.org requesting that Mike Jeffries “Stop telling teens they aren't beautiful and make clothes for teens of all sizes.” While O’Keefe’s heart is in the right place, asking A&F for an apology or to make clothes for all sizes isn’t going to happen. Nor is Hollister, A&F’s stores for the “high school” crowd, going to change. Since this writer has been in both A&F and Hollister, I have first-hand experience of the feel of these two stores. And with that experience, I wouldn’t wear either label if they were given to me. Perhaps a better avenue to go is to do as Greg Karber has done; give all of your A&F clothing to the homeless and then proceed to shop elsewhere.