Naturally..

I just read this comment:

Um excuse me? Fuck you very much please and thank you. Stores shouldn’t be selling clothes to specific sizes, they should try to reach EVERY person they can, that’s called marketing strategies. It’s called personal branding. This girl looks beautiful in that shirt, are you trying to deprive anyone else who could have confidence in wearing this by vomiting obnoxious shit like that? I can assume many other people wished that store had their size so they could feel this way.

You, captain, are incorrect.  I acknowledge that you are trying to be the big person & defend people, as well as make a case for social consciousness, but you are clearly speaking past what you know.  Marketing is my life, & unfortunately I cannot let this go by on my feed.  If you do not mind, I would like to present a learning opportunity.

No business should try & reach everyone.  My professor put it perfectly: “The only thing in the middle of the road is roadkill.”  The consumer market is made up of the ‘everyone’ you speak of, however, that is not marketing strategy.  From this entire market, businesses create segments.  These segments are made up of the specific type of person a business is trying to reach.  In A&F’s case, this would be the preppy, skinny teenager.  

And in response to your branding comment; once again, you are incorrect.  Branding is the image created in the consumer’s mind of what the company is.  Once again, A&F would like to be the image of popularity & attractiveness.  That is the brand image they put out, but that is entirely subject to change, especially thanks to their CEO’s awful comments.  So, you are incorrect in saying that reaching everyone is branding because there is no such thing as a brand for everyone.  It’s impossible.  None of us are the same, not everyone has the same wants & needs.

I hope I did not offend you in any way, I am a marketing student that cannot help but offer information when it is something with which I am passionate & well-educated.  A&F’s strategies & positioning is all their own, but their CEO was terrible about how he expressed their position & target market.  That is where he severely screwed up.  But, if you are going to be upset about a business going after a specific market, you will forever be upset because that is the nature of capitalism, business, as well as basic need satisfaction.