Gritter
Steven Kayfes
Andy Finkle
Period 3

Your Body, Their Billboard

Abercrombie and Fitch, a brand set apart from others. Or is it? What separates them from the rest? The answer is simple, propaganda. Abercrombie and Fitch is a name that has been around for over one hundred years but only recently has the name become popular. This is because the name has been turned into propaganda. The name Abercrombie and Fitch has nothing special to it (except it is a little had to say). The name is only special if it is plastered all over a shirt that would otherwise have been plain. Abercrombie has taken advantage of an advertising technique that many companies have used before. But for some reason the name Abercrombie has convinced many consumers to pay up four times as much for clothing just because it has the name Abercrombie on it.

Everything in an Abercrombie store has its name on it. This is the same for most stores, but for Abercrombie their name is apparently worth twenty to thirty dollars depending what it is on. For t-shirts the name is worth around twenty dollars per shirt, for jeans it worth close to about forty dollars. (Abercrombie and Fitch, Christmas 2000). As far as advertising goes Abercrombie the company does little. Instead kids who buy their clothing do it for them. Abercrombie has for the most part stayed off of television and out of most magazines (except those considered as read only by the rich and famous). The fact is people who wear Abercrombie clothing are actually paying to advertise for them. This does not mean anyone who has ever bought an article of clothing from them is paying to advertise for them but if you buy a lot of clothes then you are.

The propaganda supplied by Abercrombie is everywhere. Not only does everyone wear it but everyone wants to be seen with the name Abercrombie. Some kids have gone as far as putting Abercrombie bags as covers on their school books. This is the type of thing that companies dream for. This is the type of advertising that companies pay up to two million dollars for a thirty second ad during the Super Bowl for. The name Abercrombie has become so cool that people will pay for the name itself. What is next, Abercrombie tattoos? Somehow the clothes at Abercrombie became popular. This was mostly due to their high cost. This trend of high costing clothes being more popular helped Abercrombie jump onto the market. Since then the prices have pretty much stayed the same with no great increases. But what made the prices get so high in the first place?

Abercrombie has caught a lucky break, they do little to advertise and kids buy it because it is expensive. Why doesn’t this work for other companies you might ask. The answer is that it does, and Abercrombie is the leader of this Field. Why it works is the heart of this discussion. Many say it is the wanting to be part of something. In other words conformity. Conformity tied in with fad of expensive clothing being popular has created the dream that makes Abercrombie what it is. Some people will dress entirely in Abercrombie clothing in an attempt to be popular. Once Abercrombie became popular people were willing to pay whatever the cost for their clothes. Kids now believe in the fantasy that Abercrombie has tried to portray. Abercrombie say “We rely more on soft advertising and trying to portray and sell an ideal or fantasy, rather focusing on the quality and durability of the clothes. (Cavalierdaily) With kids believing in this fantasy they ignore what is on the shirts or what the price is and instead buy into the fantasy.

Abercrombie does everything right in terms of perfect advertising for the little that they actually do. In their Catalog A & F Quarterly Abercrombie has turned to naked people to sell their clothes. The A & F Quarterly cost six dollars to buy (Naughty or Nice) where as most companies would give you their catalog for free. This adds more to the hype that just the name alone is worth money. There have been pictures of girls naked and guys with most of themselves revealed. Sex, the other type of propaganda is also used by Abercrombie. This is the single most popular type of advertising and propaganda. Even if you don’t like to see people naked you will look and you will remember. As the old saying goes any publicity is good publicity. So for Abercrombie they can push as far as they want. That is why they have put things that may offend certain ethnicities on their t-shirts. This turned out as bad publicity but again any publicity is good publicity. Abercrombie tried to market a line of thong style underwear to girls aged ten to sixteen. (The thong is Wrong) The smallest sized could fit children as young as seven (The Thong is Wrong) but again any publicity is good publicity. Aberrombie has been ridiculed for its pictures of men in bed with several women that are advertised in it stores on the walls. Why is any publicity good publicity? It’s more free advertising. Abercrombie is a clothing company giant that has no real reason to spend money on advertising because the consumer advertises for them.

Abercrombie wants you to believe in their fantasy. The fantasy is that the name Abercrombie will make you cool. That is the more Abercrombie clothing that you wear the cooler you will be. They want you to believe this so that they can use you body to advertise. If the Consumers were to stop believing this then the company would lose the strangle hold it has on the teenage population of America.

Many have decided to try and boycott the company. Illinois Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood is calling for a consumer boycott of Abercrombie because of the sexually explicit nature of its holiday ''Naughty or Nice'' catalog. (Sex Based Ads Prompt Boycott) Boycotts like these have done little. For example this one was called for in nineteen ninety nine and the company is more sexually explicit today than it ever was then. The truth is no one is gong to stop Abercrombie. The one good thing about what they have done is left it up to the consumer. They put control of their company in the consumer’s hands. If people don’t buy their clothes then they have no way to advertise. Abercrombie is that peak and has been there for a while. The day that you see an Abercrombie billboard is the day you will know that they have fallen from the top.