When I was in the seventh grade I stopped buying Abercrombie and Fitch because the quarterly magazine they sent me had a double page picture of two people riding naked on a horse (I couldn't find it online, but then again it was 10 years ago). Although I was at the vulnerable age of 13, I understood that Abercrombie and Fitch was trying to sell me a fictional lifestyle available to only those who wear the necessary wardrobe. I did not realize until I went to business school years later that A & F's marketing campaign during the late 1990's was quite revolutionary. Their quarterly magazine (which I actually paid for!) dedicated a majority of the pages defining what it meant to be "exclusive" and "cool." I
n kids Abercrombie, collecting stickers was a right of passage. To this day, I still have Abercrombie and Fitch stickers stuck to my closet door from those influential years. I remember the excitement of getting a new sticker to put on my closet. The more stickers I had, the more items of clothing I had from A &F. I had never seen the male pelvis bone until A & F, started marketing male sexuality. When I was in the 6th grade, walking into the store featuring a blown up picture of a half naked man in ultra low rider jeans was a deceptively maturing experience. Since the day I got the quarterly issue with the naked horse riders , I have yet to make another purchase at Abercrombie and Fitch. As morally disturbing the Abercrombie and Fitch marketing campaign may have been, at least some restraint was shown on lifestyle marketing. The stickers were given to customers, and the questionably indecent photos were kept in the store. As much as I was quite disturbed by the irrelevance of the naked people on the horse in the quarterly magazine, at least I had paid (consented) for it. I realize that A & F now sells sex more openly, but in retrospect, I can see that there was at least some sort of moral limit to advertising in the late 1990's.
As a creature of habit, every Sunday I look through the coupons and advertisements regardless of the fact that I may or may not need anything. Today I saw the front cover of the Toys R'
Us weekly flyer and almost fell over. The demographic of Toys R' Us ranges from toddlers to tweens; there is no reason this young girl should be wearing super tight spandex leggings with a strategically placed leg strap on her upper thigh. Now I consider myself to be a liberal progressive, but I couldn't help but react when some of my male friends made comments about the sexually suggestive picture on the front page of Toys R Us. If the girl was wearing athletic shorts, or if she was marketing a completely different product, I probably never would have noticed; however, as marketed today, this picture sells a lot more than just a Wii application.
I realize that this post is getting quite long so I will keep the comments on Old Navy's flyer to a minimum. I also think that Old Navy went so far over the line here that an extensive explanation isn't necessary. Old Navy markets leisure and business casual clothing to nearly all members of the family. I can not believe this flyer suggests visiting (or pretending to visit) a nude beach in Europe, letting "super" friends borrow your body parts, or decapitating oneself willingly. In this day in age, I don't think there could ever be an acceptable advertising scenario where a black man is decapitated.
This was a major marketing fail.
When I was in the seventh grade I stopped buying Abercrombie and Fitch because the quarterly magazine they sent me had a double page picture of two people riding naked on a horse (I couldn't find it online, but then again it was 10 years ago). Although I was at the vulnerable age of 13, I understood that Abercrombie and Fitch was trying to sell me a fictional lifestyle available to only those who wear the necessary wardrobe. I did not realize until I went to business school years later that A & F's marketing campaign during the late 1990's was quite revolutionary. Their quarterly magazine (which I actually paid for!) dedicated a majority of the pages defining what it meant to be "exclusive" and "cool." I
n kids Abercrombie, collecting stickers was a right of passage. To this day, I still have Abercrombie and Fitch stickers stuck to my closet door from those influential years. I remember the excitement of getting a new sticker to put on my closet. The more stickers I had, the more items of clothing I had from A &F. I had never seen the male pelvis bone until A & F, started marketing male sexuality. When I was in the 6th grade, walking into the store featuring a blown up picture of a half naked man in ultra low rider jeans was a deceptively maturing experience. Since the day I got the quarterly issue with the naked horse riders , I have yet to make another purchase at Abercrombie and Fitch. As morally disturbing the Abercrombie and Fitch marketing campaign may have been, at least some restraint was shown on lifestyle marketing. The stickers were given to customers, and the questionably indecent photos were kept in the store. As much as I was quite disturbed by the irrelevance of the naked people on the horse in the quarterly magazine, at least I had paid (consented) for it. I realize that A & F now sells sex more openly, but in retrospect, I can see that there was at least some sort of moral limit to advertising in the late 1990's.
As a creature of habit, every Sunday I look through the coupons and advertisements regardless of the fact that I may or may not need anything. Today I saw the front cover of the Toys R' 
Us weekly flyer and almost fell over. The demographic of Toys R' Us ranges from toddlers to tweens; there is no reason this young girl should be wearing super tight spandex leggings with a strategically placed leg strap on her upper thigh. Now I consider myself to be a liberal progressive, but I couldn't help but react when some of my male friends made comments about the sexually suggestive picture on the front page of Toys R Us. If the girl was wearing athletic shorts, or if she was marketing a completely different product, I probably never would have noticed; however, as marketed today, this picture sells a lot more than just a Wii application.
I realize that this post is getting quite long so I will keep the comments on Old Navy's flyer to a minimum. I also think that Old Navy went so far over the line here that an extensive explanation isn't necessary. Old Navy markets leisure and business casual clothing to nearly all members of the family. I can not believe this flyer suggests visiting (or pretending to visit) a nude beach in Europe, letting "super" friends borrow your body parts, or decapitating oneself willingly. In this day in age, I don't think there could ever be an acceptable advertising scenario where a black man is decapitated. This was a major marketing fail.
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