How A CEO Can Wreck A Brand In One Interview

[garbon]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviatemin/2013/05/13/abercrombie-and-fitch-v-dove-or-how-a-ceo-can-wreck-a-brand-in-1-interview-7-years-ago/

The power of a CEO to make – or break – a brand can never be overestimated – even in an interview that took place 7 years ago.

That is just what has happened in the case of Abercrombie & Fitch: an incredibly ill-advised interview that A&F CEO Mike Jeffries granted to Salon Magazine in 2006 has just found new life on the internet. And if his comments – including that he only wants the young, beautiful and thin to wear his clothes – were insensitive and politically incorrect THEN, today they are practically an invitation to riot. Certainly, they are causing a boycott in real time.

So, what happened? As best as I can dissect it, the controversial Mr. Jeffries agreed to an interview with Salon in January of '06 to celebrate the opening of A&F's flagship store. Clearly, it was a mistake. Mr. Jeffries was dubbed "The Willie Wonka of the fashion industry" by the reporter who most assuredly could not stand him, and was then excoriated in a very long article. In that article, Mr. Jeffries told of the "secret" of A&F's newly found success: "...we go after the cool kids...a lot of people don't belong [in our clothes], and they can't belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

And he continued from there. In fact the coverage was so bad it probably put him off the press for the rest of his career. I am sure he could not wait for the article to be forgotten, consigned to the scrapheap of old news.

But unfortunately, with the internet, embarrassing articles do not die – they just go into hibernation until they are resuscitated. And in Mr. Jeffries' case, that resuscitation came in the person of Robin Lewis, author of a book called "The New Rules of Retail," when she was being interviewed for a May 3, 2013 article on Business Insider, a web-only news outlet founded by Henry Blodget. The article, "Abercrombie & Fitch Refuses to Make Clothes for Large Women," by Ashley Lutz, begins: "Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't stock XXL sizes in women's clothing because they don't want overweight women wearing their brand..."

And so the entire topic came alive again, and has now gone viral, with most folks thinking that Mr. Jeffries has just made the comments recently, not 7 years ago. Facebook is roiling. The blogosphere is on fire. Change.org has started a petition to get A&F to make plus sizes. A boycott has not only been started, but is gathering steam. And the whole thing is about to explode.

Why?

Well, compare if you will, Mr. Jeffries' comments with the newest, much-heralded Dove web-only commercial, Real Beauty Sketches, which has also gone viral: 52 MILLION hits, and counting. Its mantra: "You are more beautiful than you think!"

Dove commissioned a police sketch artist to draw women as they describe themselves, and then as others describe them. The women see themselves as much less attractive, and full of defects, while others see them far more kindly. Sometimes, in fact, the drawings don't even look like they are of the same woman, and we all get to see that women can be their own worst critics.

Unless Mr. Jeffries is around, that is.

The zeitgeist of today is to promote women's self-esteem by telling them that they are beautiful inside out. (And even the Dove commercials have faced serious criticism for not being egalitarian enough...) So, imagine how the 7-year-old comments are playing in this context.

It feels like a self-esteem smack-down, Abercrombie vs. Dove. Mean, bully-boy culture (A&F) vs. a holistic, self-esteem promoting, we-can-make-the-world-a-better-place sensibility (Dove). Narcissism vs. collectivism; cruelty vs. compassion; me, me, me vs. we. And, today, Dove is winning.

My advice, besides Abercrombie admitting their time-warp dilemma and going into serious crisis and retrenchment mode RIGHT NOW? If you are not a media-savvy – and media friendly – CEO, do not let anyone, including your media advisors, put you in front of the press. Better to stay silent and let others from your company speak than to put your foot this far down your throat. You may never live it down.

And, even if you are savvy, do watch what you say, because your words may live on far past their usefulness, or appropriateness.

And then, the only alternative would be what many would love to do right now: wash Mr. Jeffries' mouth out – with Dove soap!

Pretty interesting on the lasting power of words today.

[Phillip V]

Looking back at my school years, A&F clothing was not slutty enough.

[Admiral Yi]

Is the claim that A&F has been crushed by a boycott?

[Kleves]

[Ideologue]

Mike Jeffries: a visionary?

[garbon]

Is the claim that A&F has been crushed by a boycott?

I guess in this Forbes article.

[Admiral Yi]

I guess in this Forbes article.

I thought they were doing fine.  Article reads more like a case of wishful thinking than reporting.

[Legbiter]

Mike Jeffries: a visionary?

Yes.

http://www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-wants-thin-customers-2013-5

Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch doesn't stock XL or XXL sizes in women's clothing because they don't want overweight or unattractive women wearing their brand.

[Razgovory]

Sounds like clever marketing.  It's how you sucker in the Martinus types.

[Eddie Teach]

By not making clothes in their size? 

[Martinus]

If there is anything wrong with modern society it's the "fat acceptance" and similar style movements.

Unlike most other industries that have succumbed to the lowest common denominator, the fashion industry has had aspired to the ideal for a long time, embracing not the fat, ugly and disgusting masses, but the few slim, pretty and young. Unfortunately, now even this is falling under the stampede of disgusting ugly slobs.

[Martinus]

The author of this piece, pictured left:



No further comments are needed.

[Neil]

If there is anything wrong with modern society it's the "fat acceptance" and similar style movements.

Like the 'gay acceptance' movement?

[garbon]

The author of this piece, pictured left:



No further comments are needed.

The CEO

[Gups]

Meh, it's not even close to Gerald Ratner's early 90s classic

"We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say, "How can you sell this for such a low price?", I say, "because it's total crap"

pretty much killed his company