Young and Sexy

This week's discussion about how advertisements sell images in order to entice consumers to buy their products made me think of A&F's advertising techniques. I've worked for the company for two years (ok it's not something I'm proud of...) and from the inside looking out, it's kind of amazing how much truth there is in a lot of the criticism A&F gets about its image.

Greeters and models (associates that actually interact with customers and stand in the front of the store) are hired by managers who are given strict look policy guidelines - the "All-American" look. This is because the greeters and models are A&F's primary source of advertisement - it's not like the billboards and posters in the store show people who are, ummm, actually wearing much clothing. The point of the posters isn't to sell the clothes, it's to sell the sex appeal. The billboards say "look at my sexy body," or and the models/greeters say "look how great my sexy body looks in these clothes - this could be you too."

Each branch of A&F companies has its own "tagline" - A&F itself is "Young and Sexy." The website proclaims A&F as the "casual, classic, All-American lifestyle brand of clothing." Self-explanatory. Even though the company is headquartered in Ohio, it promotes NYC and Southern California, because honestly, what's so sexy about Ohio when NYC and the beaches of Socal are "the places" for young people to be?

Oh Mike Jeffries (CEO of A&F...by the way he's like in his 60's and he's still super buff and rocks Fitch head to toe, destroyed jeans and all)...what a guy.

http://www.abercrombie.com/anf/images/homepage/I-homeYS.jpg
^Young and Sexy!

http://images2.layoutsparks.com/1/46509/abercrombie-fitch-muscle-man.jpg
^Check out that American flag in the background....no sign of moose-wear but hey! We're All-American!

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PS. Sorry this is super late :[