Friday, 15 June 2012
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
“Marketing encourages desire and aspiration through the construction of images of perfection.” Is this acceptable?
“Marketing
encourages desire and aspiration through the construction of images of
perfection.” Is this
acceptable?
This essay investigates how marketing encourages desire and
aspiration through the construction of images of perfection, considers the influence
in the society and will determine whether it is acceptable within the fashion
industry.
Hollister are an American lifestyle brand created by parent
company Abercrombie and Fitch. The concept was originally created to attract
consumer’s aged 14 – 20 and was ranked the second most preferred clothing brand
of teens in the U.S. They are a brand, which relies heavily on self-marketing
meaning they use their clothes and bags as a way to advertise their business.
However in the consumer’s eyes the artwork and
typography they use on their clothing is a style and not a marketing technique.
In the U.S the company has become a well-known brand and has been around for
over 10 years, on the other hand in the U.K it is completely different. In
comparison to other fashion brands it is a particularly new company and
therefore has an edge over its competitors because of its desirability. Their
bold type t-shirts are an example of the way they use their consumers as
advertiser's, a t-shirt which reads “Hollister” promotes the company by spreading their brand name.
Both Hollister and Abercrombie have tapped in to a clever
but subtle marketing tool, both brands shop fronts are very unique and express
their brand values. For example Hollister does not use high visual typography
or images, but they have created their shops to resemble a “surf hut.” From the outside the public
can see a beach like hut with roof tiles and pillars, and as you enter there is
a huge imposing image. This is a type of “theatrical” shopping, where the shop is made to look like something
different to bring the consumer in to sense of nostalgia and communicate the
brand's values. Abercrombie’s shop front is completely
different to Hollister’s this is because they each
have very different demographics and pricing strategies. Abercrombie use a bold
black font for their logo, and this reflects their simplistic styling, they
still use a theatrical shopping experience by lowering the light levels and
playing loud music this creates a club like atmosphere. The younger market
favours this type of ambience and therefore the theme appeals to their target
audience.
Hollister is definitely a brand that encourages desire and
aspiration through the construction of images of perfection. Infact their
marketing is heavily based upon showing as much skin as possible and they give
their models a flawless finish to exaggerate this. A good example is a
signature piece by Hollister, this is of a slender man wearing jeans holding
his t-shirt, the image focuses on his body and facial expression rather than
the clothing. Hollister have used the same theme ever since they were formed
and it is mainly used in their own stores as high visual advertising, there has
been no major rebrands and it's because they have found a popular style.
Consumers are likely to want to buy Hollister's values rather than the clothes;
therefore it's the marketing that's enticing the consumers. In the giant world
of marketing and in an ever-expanding marketing campaign companies all try to
compete to create a unique identity, Hollister use the models to express their
brand identity and don’t hesitate in saying they
target their clothing to the popular, good-looking people. This is an extract
from the CEO of Abercrombie and Hollister, who spoke to the BBC programme
Secrets of the Super brands. “In every school there are the
cool and popular kids and then there are the not so cool kids, candidly we go
after the cool kids, we go after the attractive, all American kid with a great
attitude and lots of friends.”
“A lot of people don’t belong in our club, and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely!” Hollister has created itself a form of perfection that it
expects from its staff, they have to have a slender figure, straight long hair
and wear no makeup. The image they are trying to force upon the market is
reflected in what their staff wear, which is carefully constructed.
In all their stores across the world two employees man the
entrance and they are both like models. Also at the entrance, as mentioned
before, is a large, imposing image of a "perfect" looking model
(wearing) Hollister clothing.The consumer might look at these images and
employees and aspire to be like them, however without lots of makeup and
airbrushing it is impossible to recreate such a false, superficial look. This
can be seen as completely wrong because it makes audiences feel out of place
because they aspire to be something that is not natural.
On the other hand a lot of companies argue that their focus
is on the clothes and lifestyle they sell with them. The models are there to
style the clothes and make them look good; they do not expect their audience to
aspire to such unnatural perfection. However this can be difficult to believe
because companies, especially Hollister, use models with flawless skin and
exaggerated torsos to style their clothes but also put across their identity
and masculinity/feminity.
A company which uses very different marketing techniques is
Superdry, they use high impact typography and retro logos from America and do
not style their clothes on air brushed models. They are a company formed in
2005 and have made a profit of £72.2 million, their attitude is quite laid back and this is
reflected in their clothing and the styles they release. The two companies are
expected to be different because they target their clothing at completely
different demographics, however the age is similar. Hollister go for a
Californian, beach style, whereas Superdry are more vintage American. This type
of overall style gives us an idea of why they don't use such superficial images
of topless men like Hollister. It's because it doesn't fit in with their target
market and they know it's the high impact typography and graphics which attract
their market, not the false, exaggerated models.
Both brands create an exclusive club; by buying the
products you have entrance to the club. However Hollister and Superdry differ
in the way they promote this. Hollister and Abercrombie are very vocal when it
comes to who they want to buy their clothing, whereas Superdry keeps its quiet
(some people would say they don't have an exclusive club, however not everyone
can fit in to their clothing, neither does the style suit them.)
Superdrys retails stores do have a sort of retail theatre,
however it is not on the scale of Hollister and Abercrombie. They have a unique
style and play on this by including a quite rustic, americana, traditional
theme to their stores. The vintage American typography is the crux of their
final store designs and in fact their clothing. Apart from a few lighting
changes and old Americana style prints the store remains quite unfurnished
(which fits with their rustic theme) Abercrombie and Hollister have seating,
luxurious wallpaper and in their flagship stores, statues and wall art which
all promotes the male and female body.
In an ever expanding marketing world companies all strive
to create innovative campaigns and assert themselves within a world filled with
super brands. Hollister is definitely a company that uses falsified images of
perfection to sell their clothing but more importantly they use these to sell
their lifestyle. Superdry on the other hand is very different, instead of using
superficial models which look unnaturally perfect they attract the attention
from consumers using high impact type and their innovative, unique vintage
American style. Even though both brands are targeting a very similar market
they have found consumers which will buy their products for what they look like
aswell as the lifestyle that comes with them. And the companies know this seems
to be what consumers like to buy to buy in to. In my opinion in a business
world this is completely fine to do, companies all try and create successful
marketing campaigns to attract consumers however we must consider the impact on
consumers. In some circumstances all over the world people go to extreme
measures to aspire to look like model. This can lead to damaging effects and
can leave people physically scared. Companies such as Superdry and Hollister
(Abercrombie) have a duty to the consumer to notify them the image has been
changed Ian a way (airbrushed) to avoid people mis interpreting the image.
Friday, 25 May 2012
Five Critical Questions - NoiZe
Five Critical Questions
1.
Do you think that people would find this product
useful? (Is there a need for it?)
2.
What do you like and dislike about the product?
3.
What do you think of the visuals and aesthetics?
Would you change or include anything if you had the chance?
4.
Would you buy the product and if you would,
would you pay the price suggested for it? Why?
5.
What do you like most about the product?
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