Selling Sex: The Abercrombie & Fitch Strategy

One would have heard the phrase, 'Sex Sells', one time or another. Through the decades while a lot has changed in advertising and the media, the strategy of using 'sex' to sell or market a product is still present today.


From print to television commercials to out of home advertising, such representations of men and women in media outlets; seems to be accepted as a norm in today more liberal society. However there are still a number of audiences that begs to differ.


An example of racy advertising which created a controversy more recently here on our shores is the giant Abercrombie and Fitch billboard poster featuring a a topless male torso with his hands pushing down a pair of low slung jeans.  Sure the sexy ad created a buzz but with the positive almost always comes with the negative; complaints were made in the local newspapers about how the image was inappropriate, offensive and considering the varied crowd Orchard Road has, it was not suitable for kids to be viewing a semi nude male in such an open area. The issue of it being located at a busy intersection also sparked complaint of how it was distracting to drivers. The billboard that was up in June was taken down by October 2011.


Despite its removal, it has created enough buzz within a short time.Leveraging on the now removed controversial semi nude poster; A&F further hyped up their store opening with 40 topless male models lined up outside the store. The writer personally sees this as a part of their effective outdoor advertising campaign. The live topless men clad only in red sweatpants caused a media frenzy with every local news channel reporting on it and every local newspaper have had it featured in the couple of days that followed. 

By the time the store opened, queues were formed by people who just wanted to see what the whole buzz was about. They may walk into the store for the topless men but while they are in the store, they may end up walking out with a purchase. A&F was all about creating a huge media buzz to draw people in and it did that successfully. Sure it had used sex and objectification to generate most of the hype but one cannot deny the fact that using sex indirectly does generate enough interest that could possibly sell almost anything.

Giant Billboard outside Knightsbridge

Abercrombie & Fitch's Topless Male model lines the street

References:
[Abercrombie-and-fitch-opening-singapore], n.d. [image online] Available at: http://beautyfool.com/abercrombie-fitch-launching-in-singapore-objectifying-men-drama/ [Accessed 14 May 2012]  

nTan, J 2011 Yahoo News Singapore – MDA backs ASAS call to remove Abercrombie and Fitch ad, viewed 14 May 2012, http://sg.news.yahoo.com/abercrombie---fitch-advertisement-suspended-by-authorities.html

[Abercrombie Poster], 2012. [image online] Available at:  https://wiki.smu.edu.sg/1112t2is427g1/Abercrombie_%26_Fitch_and_SPAO [Accessed 14 May 2012]