Abercrombie & Fitch Gets Brand Re-Adjustment [VIDEO]

In this video, YouTube subscriber Greg Karber attacks the clothing line and retail outlet "Abercrombie & Fitch" on several different levels.  He alleges that Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, doesn't want "larger women" wearing his clothes.  

He also implies that A&F clothing are only for "cool kids" and even further that when their clothing is damaged, "instead of donating it to the poor or unfortunate, they burn them."  As Karber continues, he states "They only want a certain type of person wearing their clothes."

In our own research, we found that in a 2006 interview, Jeffries did indeed make this statement,  "In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids."   "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."

About store employees, Jeffries stated, “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."

Given that A&F has this specific target demographic that focuses exclusively on "cool", "good looking" "younger kids" and really has little or no concern for those outside that target, is this any different than most any other company?

Consider that "targeting" is part of the game.  Cereal makers advertise heavily on cartoon and family channels and spend the lion share of their ad dollars on Saturday mornings and after school.  Is it an accident that this happens to be when most children are in front of the television?  And how often do we see commercials for "adult diapers" like Depends advertised on the same cartoon and children's channels?  Never!

Is A&F CEO Jeffries out there?  You bet.  Have his stores continued to post respectable numbers even during the "Great Retail Recession?"  Some would say so.

So, if you're not one of the cool kids, will you avoid A&F...or will buying their clothes "make you cool?"  I guess the biggest question is "will you buy A&F clothes just to donate to the homeless?"