Just last week a female customer was banned from A&F (Abercrombie & Fitch) because she had bought too many clothes. This week they offered Jersey Shore Mike ‘’The Situation’’ and the rest of the cast a lump sum of money to stop wearing the brand.
The company released a statement on their website: "We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino's association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image. We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans. We have therefore offered a substantial payment to Michael 'The Situation' Sorrentino and the producers of MTV's The Jersey Shore to have the character wear an alternate brand. We have also extended this offer to other members of the cast, and are urgently awaiting a response."
I'm really not a jersey Shore fan but I do know about the show and it's cast members, and I also know that the series has garnered record ratings for MTV, making it the network's most viewed series telecast ever. In 2010, the cast of Jersey Shore was named on Barbara Walters' 10 most fascinating people. The show is watched by millions of people aged from 12 - 34, which would be the same age bracket that A&F targets!
Now there’s a fake Abercrombie website that’s been created and they are currently selling these tees (Pictured below). Is Abercrombie going to do anything about the damage that this might be causing to the brand?
This is rather confusing, and it got me thinking about whether the offer made to the Jersey Shore cast was a serious one, or simply a tongue-in-cheek attempt to gain publicity. But this also got me thinking about how far some retailers would go to protect their brand.
Images sourced from: Huffingtonpost.com
