March 23rd, 2007, 11:06
Pecs appeal?
Abercrombie & Fitch has opened a shop staffed by fit, topless young men. If I were 18 IтАЩd be down there like a shot, says Sarah Vine
One of the first signs of old age is that advertising ceases to make any kind of sense whatsoever. Unless it is something simple and straightforward, such as a washing powder or Marks & Spencer puddings, I find most of it utterly baffling. Clearly, 40-year-old married women with children do not interest most advertisers. I am, in marketing terms at least, obsolete.
This ought to make me feel depressed. In fact, I am delighted. Relieved, even. I am now officially at an age where I cannot be bullied into spending money on stuff I neither need nor can afford in order to conform to a prescribed ideal. I am certainly not likely to be taken in by the sort of advertising that relies on scantily-clad young models selling a dream of physical and sexual perfection.
I am therefore not the most sympathetic of audiences for the grand opening, yesterday morning, of the new Abercrombie & Fitch shop in Burlington Gardens, London W1. For those of you who, like me, thought Abercrombie & Fitch was an upmarket travel agent specialising in posh holidays to India (Abercrombie & Kent, in fact; not the same thing at all), it is not. The best way to describe it is sexy Ralph Lauren тАФ with strong Bruce Weber (if you get my drift) overtones.
There has, as they say, been a bit of тАЬcontroversyтАЭ over this new store opening, mainly because of the companyтАЩs shameless and expertly calculated use of good-looking young people to promote the brand. There has been a very visible billboard campaign, featuring a muscle-bound young fellow, photographed from behind showing his bottom cleavage.
For the grand opening, this billboard fantasy has been made flesh тАФ in the shape of David and Peter Sheath, two brothers from Swansea. Their job is to greet A&FтАЩs first shivering customers (it is, of course, snowing outside) and, if they so wish, be photographed with them. They will be wearing nothing (and I mean nothing) but jeans and flip-flops. And welcoming smiles.
full story
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life ... 554835.ece (http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article1554835.ece)
Abercrombie & Fitch has opened a shop staffed by fit, topless young men. If I were 18 IтАЩd be down there like a shot, says Sarah Vine
One of the first signs of old age is that advertising ceases to make any kind of sense whatsoever. Unless it is something simple and straightforward, such as a washing powder or Marks & Spencer puddings, I find most of it utterly baffling. Clearly, 40-year-old married women with children do not interest most advertisers. I am, in marketing terms at least, obsolete.
This ought to make me feel depressed. In fact, I am delighted. Relieved, even. I am now officially at an age where I cannot be bullied into spending money on stuff I neither need nor can afford in order to conform to a prescribed ideal. I am certainly not likely to be taken in by the sort of advertising that relies on scantily-clad young models selling a dream of physical and sexual perfection.
I am therefore not the most sympathetic of audiences for the grand opening, yesterday morning, of the new Abercrombie & Fitch shop in Burlington Gardens, London W1. For those of you who, like me, thought Abercrombie & Fitch was an upmarket travel agent specialising in posh holidays to India (Abercrombie & Kent, in fact; not the same thing at all), it is not. The best way to describe it is sexy Ralph Lauren тАФ with strong Bruce Weber (if you get my drift) overtones.
There has, as they say, been a bit of тАЬcontroversyтАЭ over this new store opening, mainly because of the companyтАЩs shameless and expertly calculated use of good-looking young people to promote the brand. There has been a very visible billboard campaign, featuring a muscle-bound young fellow, photographed from behind showing his bottom cleavage.
For the grand opening, this billboard fantasy has been made flesh тАФ in the shape of David and Peter Sheath, two brothers from Swansea. Their job is to greet A&FтАЩs first shivering customers (it is, of course, snowing outside) and, if they so wish, be photographed with them. They will be wearing nothing (and I mean nothing) but jeans and flip-flops. And welcoming smiles.
full story
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life ... 554835.ece (http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article1554835.ece)