But the Neelam Gill campaign was proof that Abercrombie was listening to its shifting demographic. Abercrombie is ostensibly no longer aiming to appeal to rebellious teens. ""The rebelliousness that was embodied in that [older] marketing and that positioning was very much directed at the teen who was ... finding their own identity," Chairman Arthur Martinez said Business Insider in November. "We aim today to be a little further up the age curve ... where people are little more grown up, if I can use that phrase ... They're entering a true adulthood, sort of 18-to-25 age band, collegiate and immediate post collegiate. They have a more refined sensibility, a great sense of themselves, and the imagery that used to be used was designed to provoke."
"Today, I think provoking is the wrong way to approach it. What we are trying to do is show a lifestyle and an ethos that is consistent with today's 18- to 25-year-old who has a clearer sense of self and identity, and we can appeal to that lifestyle and that confidence that they have as they get to that age level," Martinez said to Business Insider in November.
That's not the main focus anymore. Notably, its female models get to be fully clothed, which is hugely important and demonstrate a marked shift. For the most part, they aren't depicted as sex objects, rather, as they are depicted as models wearing clothes.
A 2015 photo seems indicate otherwise — and that's the right assumption. Ruth Bernstein, Chief Strategic Officer at YARD, told Business Insider that "a modern take on the same dynamics, that infuses meaning, that leaves room for the imagination, that allows for a greater range of identity and orientation." It's "an approach that brings in some brains to the brawn."
In 2014, things were still a little steamy — this was part of a photo series called 'Man Crush Monday.'
Abercrombie wanted to appeal to the cool kids. Ex-CEO Mike Jeffries infamously told Salon in 2006 that the brand did not aim to be inclusive, instead aiming to attract the "cool kids ... the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends," as he put it. And apparently, two girls at once.
Source: Salon