#scottfenton

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Mike Jeffries Abercrombie and Fitch controversy

Abercrombie and Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries has been under fire over his controversial words and his anti-plus-size policy.  It is no secret that Abercrombie and Fitch is a store that prides itself around an image of its clothes being meant for extremely cool and good-looking people.  If you have ever walked in the store, it is evident immediately the image the company promotes. With large pictures everywhere of incredibly good looking male and females wearing their clothes, as well as the employees also having to have good looks, A&F certainly isn’t shy about letting the public know what they are about. This was made ever more clear by CEO Mike Jeffries this past summer when a report came out detailing the target customer for his store. In the article, Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries under fire for 'harmful' anti-plus-size policy, author Xenia Chan discusses Robin Lewis, co-author of The New Rules of Retail, and CEO and Editorial Director of The Robin Report, and how she reignited the talk about Jeffries when she reported that A&F doesn’t carry XL or XXL in women sizes, limiting the size from extra small to large.  Jeffries, Lewis said, “Doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people, and he doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they’re one of the ‘cool kids.” Hard to believe that this is seriously how a CEO and businessman feel about his clothing, but not so long ago in 2006, Jeffries gave an interview where he said the following. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” (Chan) How is it possible that a CEO could say such a thing about his company? From a public relations standpoint it’s a mess, as well as cuts off a huge portion of the market for women. In a business sense, when thinking about potential revenue, it is simply foolish. 

            Along with his controversial size policies, Jeffries also has been criticized for the companies hiring policies. Going as far as actually having a “measuring system” for employees: “they were ordered to perform military-style exercises while at work so that they would stay “thin and beautiful”.  It’s obvious that thin and beautiful are exactly what the company strives for and Jeffries doesn’t deny it having said, “That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.” His words have caused outrage amongst consumers and have gotten plenty of attention from celebrities such as Kirstie Alley.  It is discriminatory and has left Abercrombie and Fitch in a bad light in recent years.  Discriminating in hiring practices as well as discriminating against plus size women is something that Abercrombie and Fitch could not ignore from a Public Relations standpoint

            In response to Jeffries words in 2006 resurfacing, he released a statement saying, “While I believe this 7 year old, resurrected quote has been taken out of context, I sincerely regret that my choice of words was interpreted in a manner that has caused offense. A&F is an aspirational brand that, like most specialty apparel brands, targets it’s marketing at a particular segment of customers. However, we care about the broader communities in which we operate and are strongly committed to diversity and inclusion. We hire good people who share these values. We are completely opposed to any discrimination, bullying, derogatory characterizations or other anti-social behavior based on race, gender, body type or other individual characteristics.”  (Huffington Post)  To go even further, the company released a statement in early November that they will be making a big marketing shift.  Abercrombie and Fitch said it would offer larger plus sizes for some of its women clothing online in 2014. This is a small step in the right direction for a company that has been hobbled by criticism and haunted by youth advocacy groups and consumers since CEO Mike Jeffries controversial comments. Consumers are reacting positively to the change as shopper Karen Black was quoted as saying “I think it’s a good idea they are doing that, half of the clothes are too small for me. It’s stupid.” Although Michael Scheiner, director of marketing and public relations, would not go into detail about the exact plus size options the company will provide, he did give some encouraging words of a culture change in the brand as he said they will “Continue monitoring customers' demands and preferences. We will continue to make decision based on that.” (CNN) One concern I have with this solution is although the issue of offering plus sizes has been resolved online, why aren’t these sizes available in the store? If the company is trying to adjust the culture of the brand as well as market towards a larger audience, why do they not sell the plus size items in the store? It seems as though they are saying women with larger bodies are more than welcome to purchase items online behind a computer in their own home, but do not come into our store. For a company whose image has been tarnished in recent years, although changes are being made, they still have a long way to go.

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1233837/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-mike-jeffries-under-fire-anti-plus-size-policy?page=all

http://money.cnn.com/2013/11/20/investing/abercrombie-fitch-plus-sizes/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/16/abercrombie-fitch-ceo-controversy_n_3286502.html

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This news clip from 1991 talks about the Barbie Liberation Organization. The BLO are a group of artists and activists involved in culture jamming. Culture jamming is an anti-consumerist social movement that aims to foster progressive change.

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Red Bull

Red Bull uses different forms of social media to advertise and promote the brand to their consumers. On all of their social media spaces, Red Bull consistently shows how the Brand is intertwined within the extreme sports and party culture world. I followed Red Bull on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. All three spaces basically showed the exact same things: A lot of pictures and the most common hashtag "#GivesYouWings" displayed across all three fronts.  Their message on the twitter page being "Red Bull is the only Energy Drink that #GivesYouWings. Follow if you desire to be active and have a zest for life." This message is directed towards a specific audience of people. The company is saying that Red Bull is a product for the bold, fun, exciting, courageous, and extreme. Its not your everyday energy drink, as it is meant to inspire you to be great and take part in activities that push you to the limit. Tweets connected to photographs of extreme snowboarding, skateboarders doing wild tricks, drag racing, and surfing are displayed all over its twitter page. They also promote musical events that they sponsor such as the "Red Bull Revolutions in Sound", which On 14th November 2013, the UK’s 30 most legendary clubs came alive in the heart of London. It was an "epic celebration of UK club culture" that was all sponsored by Red Bull. The party scene and extreme sports culture are two of the main audiences Red Bull advertises to.  Red Bull as a social media user, is very active with their followers. They retweet with their followers on twitter and take submissions to pictures on Instagram that allow them to become more involved with the consumer. Red Bull definitely understands that in todays consumer society, keeping up with social media is key in building relationships with consumers and spreading information quickly. With over 40 millions followers on Facebook and Twitter, Red Bull is engaging with their fans and continues to promote a certain lifestyle that comes with drinking the beverage.  "On the road, during lectures & study sessions, at work, while doing sports, playing video games, or going out day and night" are perfect occasions to use the drink and they definitely back up those assertions on their social media pages by what they are posting. 

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Red Bull

"Red Bull." Pearson Custom Library M370 "Introduction to Marketing Kelley School of Business Summer 2013" Boston: Pearson, 2013. 499-509. Print.

My first source is out of the Kelley School of Business’s introduction to marketing book. One of the chapters provided by the University of Virginia’s “Darden Business Publishing” focuses on the brand of Red Bull. The chapter discusses the history of the product and how it has established itself, “since its 1997 U.S debut, as the seventh-leading carbonated soft drink company in terms of market share, growing by 45% to achieve sales of 30 million cases.” (Darden) The chapter discusses its background, the “Red Bull Mystique”, its failures in the UK market that eventually led to its success and creating a blue print for how they were to take on the challenge of promoting the product in the United States.  The chapter goes in depth about Red Bull’s competition and how Red Bull’s marketing and advertising has been brilliantly effective in making the products target market a large audience rather than a specific niche.  What is also very interesting, is that the chapter also has a section which focuses on the “colas”, the power houses of Coke and Pepsi and how the movement by the bigger players onto the scene really just validates how huge the energy drink industry really is.  This chapter will be a tremendous help in following the brand as well as understanding the entire energy drink industry and where Red Bull stands in it, as well as the keys to their phenomenal success. This chapter alone has a lot of the information that I will need in order to put out a great final project.

  http://adage.com/article/special-report-marketer-alist-2013/red-bull-stratos-space-jump-helped-sell-a-lot-product/243751/

  My second link has to do with a specific Red Bull campaign called “Red Bull Stratos.” On October 14, 2012 More than 8 million people worldwide watched YouTube's live stream as Felix Baumgartner became the first person to break the sound barrier, starting in a freefall 128,000 feet above the Earth that reached a high speed of 833.9 miles per hour. “Meanwhile, Red Bull broke the traditional barriers of marketing, sponsorship and social media, skyrocketing from an energy drink known for providing a quick buzz to a big-time generator of international buzz that makes the endeavors of other marketing innovators like Apple look small by comparison.” (Chun, Huffington Post) The stunt has everything that the brand stands for written all over it in the sense that Red Bull is about “high octane, extreme sport”, and pushing its brand to the limit.  The article discusses how the “Stratos” campaign could very well have changed the future of marketing forever by setting the bar at such a high level. The article is even titled “Red Bull Stratos May Change Future Of Marketing.” By cutting through the clutter and doing something unique, “Red Bulls” campaign for defying the odds has been extremely attractive to the masses.

 Both sources provide essential information in explaining why Red Bulls brand is so powerful, and how its marketing and advertising campaigns are second to none. I am excited to learn more about this brand and see what they have up their sleeves in the future.