The Emperor's New Clothes

By now you must have seen the news story about the CEO of Abercrombie and Fitch and his comments about his customers - and the customers he doesn't want. When I first caught the headline I thought it was a joke...but then I've seen the story circulated and even on our local news.

Life is Good - not jerks.

Having the declared marketing strategy being the stuff of most kid's worst high school nightmares is a pretty crappy way to run your business. You know how I'm always yammering away about marketing - well, this is what it really looks like:  Paraphrased A&F says  "we only want the cool kids and you don't belong in our clothes - especially you fatties." They don't even feel bad about it. For a publicly traded company this is kind of unseemly.

I think this is a good lesson about voting with your dollars.

At a time where most folks are trying to end this kind of bullying and mean spirtedness this guy has really swung for the cruelty fences. For every mean girl feeling pretty smirky about herself right now because she IS cool enough.... there is another kid crying because now it's not just the other kids - but adults are telling her she just isn't good enough either. I think it is profoundly sad.

While I won't pitch in with the other folks who have said that the CEO, Mike Jeffries is a fine one to talk seeing as he's kind of a odd looking duck, I do think that he's kind of like the nekkid emperor who has convinced himself how great it is to be him. Maybe that guy, jetting around the world with his bevy of male models flattering his every whim, might just have drank to much of his own me-ism. But his unvarnished unkindness has show how ugly he is inside. I hope that sound you hear is his precious brand being flushed down the toilet.

If you are over on 'the facebook' then you know I just love the Life is Good folks - they have a terrific brand, don't care if you are a larger person, and actually try to do good in this life. I don't know about you but my high end tshirt dollars are only going to these people.

I used to have a lot of A&F tshirts but I gave them all to Goodwill a while ago. My only regret is that I didn't keep at least one. If I had one of their shirts I'd march right out there, put it on Nibbles the goat, take a fabulous picture and send it to their Board of Directors to show them their new customers. If fact - if you have one of their shirts and a goat - feel free to email it to me and I'll post it and send it to their muckitymucks.

Life is too short to be this mean, folks. The next time you are in the mall with your kids and they want to go into A&F or their other brands: Abercrombie kids, Hollister Co., and Gilly Hicks, you might want to think really hard about buying into what they are selling. If that guy doesn't want me to wear their clothes then believe me I won't.

Come on everyone, let's combat this meanness with a little good will (or just take all those clothes that you got from A&F and give them to Goodwill) - has everyone bought a cup of coffee for a soldier? How are you doing with our project to buy a soldier some breakfast?

Happy Thursday everyone! Life is good so let's get right out there and enjoy it!