A Rhetorical Analysis Of Abercrombie And Fitch

When you think about clothing advertisements these days, do you think the cloth advertised suits you or makes you feel like you need that cloth to fit in? This advertisement from the retailer giant Abercrombie & Fitch effectively uses the rhetorical appeals to attract consumers mostly focusing on pathos. A&F employs their models attractiveness and sex appeal to create a window effect that allures the shoppers all around the world. Moreover, for a company that has been around for more than a century, the name A&F in a simple t-shirt is enough to persuade a shopper to buy it. Finally, its aggressive use of logos has established an exclusive brand that is not fit for just everyone and the feel that you must wear it to either blend in or stand

out.

Abercrombie & Fitch profits from displaying these couple in the advertisement because subconsciously the models’ appearances induces consumers to want to feel as desirable and flawless as the models in the ad providing a window effect. Any A&F advertisement is specifically designed to attract customers by picking attractive, thin, and sexy individuals to model their brand. One of the reasons why lies in psychologist Edward Thorndike’s “Halo Effect”. Psychologist Robert Cialdini explains this phenomena in his book Influence when he writes, "We automatically assign to good-looking individuals such favorable traits such as talent, kindness, and intelligence” (Mayyasi, “Being Really, Really, Ridiculously Good Looking”). Furthermore, the beautiful female model pulls off a stylish type of sex appeal with a toned, young, and fresh face while the attractive male model embodies his by showing his well-sculpted chest and abdomen. Finally, the use of a female model and a male model to portray a couple draws the attention consumers of both genders in one single ad.

The use of a black and white print draws the shoppers’ attention but it might fail to have a long-lasting impact in the consumer’s mind. Black and white ads can be as compelling as color ads. It all depends on size, placement, what kind of media the advertisement is in and whom it is targeted towards. For instance, an elegant B&W advertisement for a law firm would work better because it sells the idea of maturity. On the other hand, colorful ads would rather work for a youth targeting business that needs to appear fun and energetic. A&F seeks to appeal and attract modern-minded and classy young-adult to adult customers and this particular ad gives a sophisticated but chic type of feel that appeals to many. However, a recent research to see the impact that color can have on ad performance, an ad was first presented in black and white and then was updated with color. When it was ran in color, 33% more readers recalled seeing the ad. According to this research, B&W ads are not as impressive as colorful ones. Hence, this particular A&F ad, although appealing, might quickly be forgotten in the mind of the consumers (“Black and White Ads Struggle in A Colorful World”).

Just the name ‘Abercrombie & Fitch’ alone is enough to draw some attention and gives them credibility as a brand, which appeals to ethos.

Abercrombie and Fitch has been around since 1892. Throughout the years, this retailer giant has been able to build itself an effective and exclusive image in the mind of every consumer. Its constant use of the sex appeal and its exclusionary advertisement methods are what keep this brand so exclusive and attractive to the general public. It is a brand that can easily charge $35 for a tank top just because it has the logo “A&F” printed in it. In this advertisement, the logo seen at the bottom left of the picture is sufficient to attract some customers that want to feel and wear the A&F

look.

Abercrombie & Fitch applies the logical appeal in this advertisement. The beach view is not there just because it looks good, instead, it has an intended purpose. This ad is most likely targeting consumers during the summer season. Both models relaxed and carefree position by the coast creates a sexy, “laid back”, and casual vibe that is essentially everything that Abercrombie tries to promote. This advertisement practically emanates the feeling that if you want to be cool, sexy, and fit the crowd then you have to, or even better, you must buy their clothing. This idea is encouraged by a statement given in 2006 by the company’s CEO Mike Jefferies during an interview with Salon Magazine, “…We go after the cool kids… A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong… Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either.” (Nicole, “Is Abercrombie & Fitch only for the attractive and fit?”).

However, this bold statement can retaliate against the logos and also the pathos. All the popular brands in America rely on their particular appeal to the public. Nevertheless, Abercrombie & Fitch’s CEO has challenged this notion. For a retailer company that only offers up to size Large that is not even big enough to be the regular size Large, he has blatantly excluded a big part of the consumer population from buying his product because he thinks they’re not fit for the brand. The public sentiment can make the customers turn their back on it and start shopping at other retailer stores that offer a wide and varied selection of clothing at very affordable prices. Nowadays Abercrombie & Fitch has closed many of its headquarters around the U.S. as the sales have seen an 8% decline this last quarter. The general public does not seem to prefer to wear a popular brand name to a cheap and affordable one as much as before. They rather have an equally fabulous tank top for $15 to a $35 with the A&F logo (Lutz, “Abercrombie & Fitch Is Done With Logos”).

The majority of clothing advertisements have a sex appeal in them.

This particular Abercrombie & Fitch's ad is the epitome of the fact that companies use it to attract customers. It gives off the notion that if you ever want to look sexy and cool like the models in the ad, you need to wear that brand. Even though Abercrombie & Fitch is a well-known brand name that by itself can do a good job in persuading a shopper into buying a product just because it is from “A&F”, its sales have decreased exponentially in the U.S. Part of it can be attributed to their exclusionary advertisement techniques that only aim to a certain part of the population. Abercrombie and Fitch might now have to start alluring consumers they now want to exclude so they can see an increase on its

sales.