Mike Jeffries, former CEO of men’s fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, is living proof that, in the words of Annie Savoy, the world is made for those who lack self awareness.
BE HONEST... AND UNMERRCIFUL............ love that . or, in another lifetime, maybe just a couple of years down the road,,,,, REMAIN SILENT, AND LET THE CURRENT CROP OF MORONS GO ON BY.
Sorry I missed this until now. Your pieces are always so thoughtful.
The thing that makes me crazy about this world we live in is how much value we put on words--not actions, but words. As you rightly point out, the marketing technique of A&F was always obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together. So the difference here is that he actually just bluntly explained the marketing technic. Is he an asshole? Yes, but he always was, and he sells clothing to other body obsessed people (not necessarily assholes themselves but people who are looking for fulfillment in the strangest and most shallow ways). Nothing changed with the words. But I suppose that's why I really had no problem with Trump's "mean tweets." Everything Trump is other presidents have been (and worse). Trump is just far more honest about that. In a way, I value that level of honesty.
I remember when that story came out and I remember thinking the real moral was not that Mr. Jeffries was an asshole and we need to "correct him." My thought was, why does this even matter? In a mature society, you just look at a person like him and go, "He's an asshole and I don't need some overpriced clothing to validate my self worth. We've got bigger problems. Turn the page." It's the lack of that level of maturity in people that I find disturbing, at least more so than Jeffries being honest about what he was doing.
BE HONEST... AND UNMERRCIFUL............ love that . or, in another lifetime, maybe just a couple of years down the road,,,,, REMAIN SILENT, AND LET THE CURRENT CROP OF MORONS GO ON BY.
Sorry I missed this until now. Your pieces are always so thoughtful.
The thing that makes me crazy about this world we live in is how much value we put on words--not actions, but words. As you rightly point out, the marketing technique of A&F was always obvious to anyone with two brain cells to rub together. So the difference here is that he actually just bluntly explained the marketing technic. Is he an asshole? Yes, but he always was, and he sells clothing to other body obsessed people (not necessarily assholes themselves but people who are looking for fulfillment in the strangest and most shallow ways). Nothing changed with the words. But I suppose that's why I really had no problem with Trump's "mean tweets." Everything Trump is other presidents have been (and worse). Trump is just far more honest about that. In a way, I value that level of honesty.
I remember when that story came out and I remember thinking the real moral was not that Mr. Jeffries was an asshole and we need to "correct him." My thought was, why does this even matter? In a mature society, you just look at a person like him and go, "He's an asshole and I don't need some overpriced clothing to validate my self worth. We've got bigger problems. Turn the page." It's the lack of that level of maturity in people that I find disturbing, at least more so than Jeffries being honest about what he was doing.
Thank you, for the compliment!
Fabulously stated!
And yet, I doubt that many of their customers have enough sense to wear a wrist compass.