Businessweek Blasts Abercrombie & Fitch's Signature Ads With an Updated Old and Flabby Version

This cover from Businessweek tells you everything you need to know about the demise of Abercrombie & Fitch.

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Image via Complex Original
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Bloomberg Businessweek's latest cover story focuses on the demise of teen mall-brand Abercrombie & Fitch. The publication mocks the retailer with a cover showing a shirtless old man suggestively pulling down on his pants, a clear parody of A&F's infamous sexual advertisements

The feature story, "The Aging of Abercrombie & Fitch," looks at the timeline of Abercrombie & Fitch during the tenure of its former creep CEO Mike Jeffries. In pulling back the curtain, Jeffries is revealed to be an obsessive CEO who micro-managed the company. "Mike indelibly linked his entire persona, his soul, to this brand’s image. He even tried to make himself look like his customers," one source told Businessweek. Jeffries was not only responsible for the strict guidelines put forth in the company's tyrannical employee manual, but also approved details as tiny as "the length of [employee's] fingernails," according to the publication.

Jeffries even had teams "make sure his car and hotel looked and smelled the way he wanted"—probably drenched in that same scent that plagued stores—and hired male models to serve him coffee when he traveled. 

Abercrombie was one of the greatest menswear brands once upon a time, and small changes have been made to get back to that place. The moose logo that dominated the halls of your high school is being scaled back, as well as the music and perfume that was blasted in equally inordinate amounts throughout the stores. However, Businessweek concludes, "It could be too late for Abercrombie to fully revive itself."

You can click over to the full story here.

[via Bloomberg Businessweek]

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