Abercrombie & Fittch

Marketing ethnics are the ethnic standards which examines ethical problems that are specific to the domain of marketing. Although ethnic standards ought to be followed, some organizations bypass the loopholes in order to earn lucrative profits. In this paper, the marketing activities of a clothing company, Abercrombie & Fitch, (A&F), is discussed. The paper begins with A&F’s background and business activities, followed by some ethical issues of A&F faced over the years and suggestions to address the issues, and ends with a conclusion of this topic.

A&F Co. was founded in year 1892 in New York by David Abercrombie and Ezra Fitch. The early A&F was an elite outfitter of sporting and excursion goods. After the bankruptcy of the original A&F
still earned lucrative sales revenue (Bloomberg Businessweek, 2010). However, such marketing practice is viewed as unethical. A&F Co. violated two ethical values, ‘respect’ and ‘responsibility’. In terms of respect, A&F Co. had obviously violated the value with its controversy cases throughout the years after its re-establishment in 1988 (Reichert, 2005). A&F stereotyped the customers and depicted demographic groups in its ways of promotion. In 2002, a graphic tee with the slogan that insulted the Asian immigrants in America was released. The product was pulled off from shelf after strong boycotts from Asian Americans (Guillermo, 2002). In 2004, A&F released T-shirts printed on "It 's All Relative in West Virginia" which implied incestuous relationships in rural America. A&F kept the products on shelf even the governor of West Virgina spoke out against it (Dao, 2004). Such attitude of A&F Co. offended the people from West Virgina. It is very unethical to offend certain group of people in order to gain the publicity from the
Although the company satisfied its shareholders by earning lucrative sales revenue, they ignored their commitment to the customers and society. Short term profits may be earned by neglecting ethical values, but sustainable marketing is built by complying with ethical values. As one of the leading clothing companies, A&F should be a good example of embracing ethical values, by doing so the other medium clothing companies will learn the importance of ethical values besides earning profits only, and both customers and companies will enjoy their respective benefits from the