The influence of sexualized advertising on consumer behavior

: Abercrombie and Fitch case study

Abstract

Abercrombie and Fitch (A&F) is an American apparel company which since many years is known for its offensive sexual advertising. Its target group moves between kids (seven to14 years), teens (14 to 18 years) and college students (18-27 years), respectively to its three brands abercrombie, Hollister Co. and Abercrombie & Fitch. The key driver of A&F’s targeting strategy for a long time was to advertise to cool, attractive teens. For A&F this included portraying semi-nude teen-models, barely showing the company’s products, posing in a sexual way. This should symbolize the easy and playful way of living when being a popular teenager. For years this strategy worked and A&F was the most successful company in the apparel industry. But things changed in 2003 and sales went down due to several complaints by consumers about the company’s ethical incorrectness and its offensive advertising. Therefore, in 2015 A&F was forced to change its overall communication strategy. This dissertation provides an overview of sexualized marketing and touches other important marketing topics in a Literature Review. A Case Study based on A&F analyzes these practices in order to classify the company’s brand perception among consumers. The Market research part consists of a Focus Group and an Online Survey providing a detailed analysis of the filtered results.  
The conclusion of this dissertation supports A&F’s overall modification of the advertising strategy but suggests the change into the fast-fashion sector in order to be able to further compete in the market of apparel retailing

Date of Award	21 Jul 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Pedro Celeste (Supervisor)