Unfair Advertising Practices (Class Activity)

The goal of the advertising industry is to persuade consumers into buying name brand products and labels at all costs. This is a business that is willing to spend millions of dollars on print ads, commercials, and other media outlets to get consumers of all ages to buy products even if the practices they use to get their niche to buy are unfair. Some of the most unfair advertising practices are directed towards children who lack the maturation and experience to understand the images and sounds that are presented to them via the television, music, books, and so on. Children do not understand what it means to interact with the media because they have not matured or experienced real life, which makes them an easy target for marketers. In reality, the products that are being sold to children are neither good nor bad, it is the message behind the content that is questionable. What IS bad is overexposing a child to ads and manipulating them into buying a product or manipulating the child to force their parents to buy a product. Children are not aware of the intent of advertisements or commercials during their early years even though they pay attention to the TV screen and the images shown.

The job of an advertiser is to manipulate consumers into wanting products. When targeting children their focus is placed on toys, games or going to a place like Chuckie Cheese. What is unfair about certain advertising strategies is that they target children whose minds aren’t developed, which is a golden opportunity for marketers to play into their vulnerability (and exploit them). According to "Media Literacy" by Potter, children are exposed to the media as early as 6months of age (Hollenbeck & Stably, 1979); that is absolutely insane. The problem is that the child has no idea what they are paying attention to on the screen and is presented with a lifestyle that they are yet to understand. The overload of ads that children are exposed to is a result of the technological advancement of our society and the overwhelming amount of information that advertisers have accessible on their consumers.In my opinion, it’s not wrong to make things for children (toys, shows, songs) as long as it is development appropriate, which means that the messages/products displayed to them are aware of the different levels of development in which the child falls under. (sensorimotor, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage)

What is unfair about advertising to children is that since they are not developed cognitively, emotionally, or morally it is easier to get a certain message stuck in their minds even though they do not understand it. Unlike adults, children need to be protected from negative content (violence, sex, language) and unfair advertising practices (overexposure, no program distinction, false advertisements)until they are old enough to understand what the media shows them and how to process the messages.
"Only 10% of children 5 to 7 years of age have a clear understanding of the profit-seeking motives of commercials; 55% are totally unaware of the nature of ads and believe commercials are purely for entertainment." (Potter, 57)Young children can not differentiate between a programmed show and a commercial if there is not a clear indication that the two programs on t.v are not the same; the signal and the noise need to be distinguished. Advertisers need to be sure that there is a clear divide between the program the child is watching and the commercial they are being shown. For example, children Networks such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel, Noggin and so forth need to make the distinction between when a show like "The Suitelife of Zack and Cody" is on and when a commercial advertising a new "Kids Bop" is on. Additionally, the time that a child is exposed to advertisements needs to be limited. Luckily,there are regulations in place to combat these unfair practices in which commercial ads are limited to 12min per hour on weekdays and 10.5minutes per hour on weekends; if a company refuses to comply they are fined an excess amount of money.(Potter) False advertisements are also illegal, for example if Barbie was presented on TV moving on her own or next to a large playhouse with a bunch of accessories and no disclaimer was mentioned. If the messages "Accessories are not included" or "Some assembly required" and so forth are not listed, then it is false advertisement but also an unfair advertising practice that makes the child want the Barbie and the whole "Barbie World" presented without knowing that when they go to purchase the doll they are simply only getting the doll.

Other unfair advertising practices include calling a child to action directly by stating "Ask mom and dad to buy ..." because to the child, what is presented on TV is reality, they do not understand the concept of deception or that they are only being shown part of the truth. They are not aware cognitively and accept what they see because of their basic level of understanding but to an advertiser, children are also consumers. Children are the ones that ask their parents for products. Most often they cry about getting what they want, complain, or nag until they get their way, which proves that the image presented to the child worked towards convincing them that the product is necessary. Phrases such as "I just gotta have it" and "I really need it" lure parents into purchasing products for their children that they would have never thought about buying otherwise. Even so, children are indeed a special audience not only because of their lack of maturation and need for protection but because they too are consumers with a strong influence over their parents who spend money on the toys and shows advertised.

Now that I think back to when I was a child I can honestly say that I asked my mother to buy me way too many Barbies and dolls and I wonder how great a role the media played in that. "How young is too young?" At what age is it appropriate to advertise to children who otherwise have no idea what they are being shown by the media? I think that children do not know what messages to ignore and what to pay attention to until they are older; their minds automatically become attuned to images, color, and sound with little filtering at high rates of exposure, which can be very unfair.

"The Corporation" Response (Week 5)

The Canadian Documentary "The Corporation" is a interesting film that sheds light on the truth behind the world's largest corporations and their media outlets (both the good and the bad). The question "What is a corporation?" was answered in a unique manner in this film. From what I watched, I understood that a corporation is a large institution that is a part of the life of every person in the world; it is the most dominant institution in our modern society. (This is a fact that I already knew but didn't pay to much attention to in the past simply because it has always been there.) Additionally, corporations have an excess amount of wealth and power, which is a problem for many people because they view this business as society's "bad apple". When I thought about it, I could not picture a world without the large corporations of today and all of the brand names that have been presented to me through the media outlets. I unfortunately do not know a world without a McDonalds, a Macys, Toys R Us, Walmart, etc.

Corporations such as McDonalds, Dennys, Disney, the Body Shop, etc are all run by people who are hidden behind large office buildings. I found it intriguing that in one of the chapters of the film the corporation is portrayed as a "person" with rights as opposed to an organization run from inside a structure. I would never in my own personal definition of a corporation define it as a "person" with the same rights as an actual living individual. The fact that lawyers were able to go around the law and allow for 14th Amendment, which was intended for the right of African Americans, to be extended to include corporations was ridiculous.I had no idea that it was possible to gain rights for a business by claiming that it was a "person" and successfully reaping the benefits designed for a human being.

Furthermore, the chapter entitled "Perception Management" described what a corporation is at best. It focused on how the corporate world in essence formulates the patterns and habits of our daily lives. Corporations do not only us advertise products to us but sell us a way of life. Each of us is being sold a story about what corporations think life should be like. These large businesses try to define who they are as people and try to relate to us by presenting their corporation as a "person" but what they are really doing is determining our freedom from behind the scenes. It was made apparent to me that there have been decades worth of propaganda that have been used to educate the public in consumer habits. We are told to consume a certain way of life and believe that what we do and buy is a result of our own will, which it certainly is not. We are told what we should by, how we should act, what is good, and what is bad by an industry only concerned with itself. Rich men who are out of touch with a majority of the population are making these decisions for a public that they can not relate to. The decisions that they make come from their reality (having money), not the reality of the rest of the world (most of whom don't have that much money).

Corporations essentially advertise a way of thinking. They tell their audience a story about who they are as people, what they should be like and make people believe that the images that are presented to them depict real life. Most consumers don’t know that the clothes they buy are produced by exploited workers. For items that cost $14.99 in America, the workers are paid 78cents in third world countries. As consumers we purchase items that are sold for hundreds of dollars when the workers (poor men, women, and children) only receive about 40cents on average, which is appalling. The film also used a really good example of how corporations have a way to make you think that by purchasing a certain item or label you are supporting a good cause. A segment displayed the use of the label "Kathy Lee" and promoted it as being a humanitarian brand that supported helping children when in fact 13 year old children were the ones producing the items consumed. What were people supporting when they bought a "Kathy Lee" Brand item? How do you support a brand that is intended to help children when you have children making the clothes? Does that mean one then supports low cost child labor? It's funny to actually take notice to how easily big businesses get away with lying and cheating.

Such devious acts are part of the reasons why corporations use Public Relations to enforce their good will and image upon us. P.R representatives help corporations have a voice, build business, and make them appealing. (eg. environmental campaigns)These economic giants are selling their role in society to create an image of being a regular person so that they in turn can appeal to the "Average Joe" who doesn't know any better. That is why it is important to be able to deconstruct the messages presented to us as consumers so that we don't fall into the pattern of accepting everything we are told. Some of the things that the consumer isn't told is that these corporations (eg. Shell) are responsible for creating chemicals that never existed before that are harmful not only to our environment but to humans and animals alike. Corporations have the means and power to produce chemicals for any purpose at absolutely no cost, which presents a huge disregard for human safety, especially if the risks are ignored in the hopes of gaining a profit. All of the chemicals used in our products are responsible for contributing to negative societal outcomes such as the cancer epidemic and infection of our food supply through the use of harmful hormones. (eg. cows injected with RBGH, which infected the animals' utters and our milk supply) The behind-the-scenes occurrences and wrongs are not displayed in the promotion ads and commercials; one must dig deeper and understand the reality of the corporation.

But what kind of person is corporation? A corporation has no moral conscious; it is an organization, not a single person like the documentary presents. There are numerous people running the corporations that dictate our lives who we know nothing about. They as "people" should have some sense of morality but when it comes down to it they only cares about their stakeholders and profit. The bottom line for a corporation is to make as much money as possible while maintaining all of the power and wealth in the community while disregarding the well-being of others.

Picture of "Cool" & "Look-Look" Response (Class Activity)

"Cool"



This is a picture I took yesterday when I went into NYC for a girl's night out with my friends. I thought a great deal about what I would capture with my digital camera and label it "cool". I think this picture is cool because there is a lot to look at here. I am a fan of Broadway musicals and liked all of the colors and familiar images (eg. the phantom, the witch) used in the ads to promote the shows. The displays above signify a major part of popular culture in New York City. I was born and raised in Manhattan and have been surrounded by this media frenzy environment all of my life. I think that the bright lights, all of the colors in the displays, and the overall set up of this area of town is pretty cool. I liked that all the Broadway ads were put together in on space, which is one of the reasons this caught my attention. These ads are intended to catch viewer's attention and be appeal to their senses. The whole purpose of promoting a Broadway show is to get people to go to it and provide them with an entertaining afternoon or evening, it's about the experience and enjoyment. Shows like "Wicked" and "Phantom of the Opera" are awesome and I guess I'm a dork when it comes to certain things but this is something that appeals to me and caught my attention while I searched for "cool" with my camera. I know that Broadway shows aren't cheap and one (the target) must be willing and able to spend a large amount of money for a ticket but there are also times when promotions go on for students and others who can't afford a full priced seat. Advertisers for Broadway shows promote to families, teenagers, adults, and the elderly alike but the avid show attendees usually have the money to do so. I feel like everything that is displayed in New York City, specifically the Times Square area is cool or else it wouldn't be placed there. This is a central location for advertising and getting people to buy and spend money on products/services and setting trends. It is one of the greatest examples of the media saturated society that we live in. Whether it's Broadway or just the area in general I think that musicals are cool especially when they are located in the center of one of the busiest cities in the world. People from around the world travel to NYC to experience these shows and the culture of the city, which is composed of a hectic and commercial environment. The media is ever present in this setting and I feel like the picture that I took captures one of the highlights on a visit into the city. My friends and I also went to see the heart that was set up in Times Sq. for Valentine's Day and thought it was pretty neat so we took a picture with it. The fact that there was a large pink heart shaped statue in the middle of the city made it a "picture worthy moment" for us to show people.
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It was interesting to learn from the "Look-Look" Press Kit that "cool hunting" actually exists. I think that it is really smart of marketers and people in the media industry to hire people to search for what is cool so that those who don't know what is "cool" are fed images about what is. Look-Look's main purpose is to be the pioneer for all of the newest trends, fads, and ideas concerning young people. They hire other young people to research the coolest aspects of our culture and in turn display it to the youth through the use of the media. Look-look is in charge of presenting young people with the coolest clothing items of the season, the newest and coolest gadgets, music, TV shows, books, stores, brands, and so forth. I also thought it was interesting that searching for "cool" means something different everyday. What may be "cool" today may not be cool tomorrow, and once "cool" is discovered and commercialized, it becomes uncool. Once a certain aspect of society is viewed as "cool" by the mass it becomes uncool due to overexposure. Once "cool" is found, it is lost; cool is only in for a limited time because trends and fads constantly change and die away. The meaning of cool is also different for each person because what is cool to the underground grunge kid is that his/her music isn't on the radio or popular, that way the music and the artists that they listen to are exclusive to them as opposed to pop music, which is everyone's music. The mass market has now become a niche market since people want things to be made specifically to meet their needs and wants. "Look-Look" is connected to a lot of popular brands such as WalMart, Virgin, Coca-Cola, and helps put together ads for some of the biggest products and names in entertainment. I found the "Style of Students" section to be interesting because I can identify with the items listed. As a college student jewelry, scarves, purses, sneakers, and so forth are items that I purchase for and during the school year so that I am able to put outfits together and keep up with the newest style. I guess that is why so many girls love "back to school" shopping and why the stores/marketers love it as well.

"Look-Look" gathers so much information and is forced to update its research constantly because trends and what is "cool" is always changing. Teenagers are the most difficult market to target because they can be very critical about what is "cool" and what isn't. They are trendsetters, innovators, and so forth but how much is really a result of their own individuality and not from the media or what they are shown. (eg. is the Green movement cool?, designing your own cell phone cool? why is the Ipod cool?)

Poster Design For Media Niche (Week 3) Revised

Advertisers put a lot of time into targeting a specific audience as a result of the many dimensions and facets of our society. One cannot simply target a large group of people and expect them to all react the same way to a message or product because everyone is different and has different values, appeals, needs, and wants. The way in which one reacts to a message they are exposed to differ from group to group which is why it has become important for marketers to narrow their focus down to the “niche audience”. “Attracting audience attention is critical for the thousands of advertisers who spend billions of dollars each year to get their messages out to their target audiences” (Potter, 48) Without a target audience these marketers would be spending billions more on trying to appeal to everyone and in the end will be losing more than they intended to gain. That is why advertisers have modified their tactics and moved away from targeting “mass society”, which is not only more costly but complex.

What I have learned so far is that the best way for marketers to reach an audience is to segment the mass into niches. That means that subgroups are used to identify an audience by age, race, religion, income, education, demographics, social group, and so forth to produce the greatest outcome for a product’s success. The hurdle that advertisers need to tackle is attracting people they do not know or interact with and get them to purchase specific goods and services. But to get that to happen they need to have a target audience in mind. The mass population in general has different desires, needs, and wants; they are heterogeneous, not socially organized, and unknown which is why in order to successfully reach maximum potential the audience must be narrowed down. The fact that American society is composed of so many different people from diverse backgrounds, social classes, religious groups, education, and so forth makes it vital for marketers to focus on niche audiences to achieve the greatest results. They need to tap into what certain groups think is cool, appealing, and useful as opposed to trying to grab everyone's attention.

To narrow down this concept one must understand what a niche audience is. Niche audiences can be identified by segments such as geographic location, demographic, psychographic, social status, and geodemographic. These segments allow advertisers to make advertisements appeal to a specific person or certain groups of people without the hassle of trying to reach everyone. Such means of communication between the marketer and audience are channels like the television, newspapers, internet, radio, magazines, billboards and so forth, all of which are geared towards a specific audience in mind in order to yield the greatest outcome. Advertisers want to make sure that they expose their audience members to specific ads, shows, commercials, jingles, and so forth so that they can appeal to their interests and get them to act. In order to do so, the media must position the products & services in a certain way in order to achieve full success and capture their target market. For example, "if a radio station wants to attract an upscale, highly educated, older audience, the programmer is likely to select classical music format and play only a certain type of music as as as present interviews and news about certain artists." (Potter, 45) Conversely, if the radio station was trying to attract a younger more carefree audience such as high school/college students and people that are attracted to mainstream music they would play rap, rock, and pop and promote events/artists linked to MTV and similar media (eg. z100).

The poster that I created is on behalf of a new product coming out this year called Reed Krakoff Clothing (from the creative director of Coach). My ad is intended for one group of people (young adults/adults with a sufficient income & level of education). This ad will obviously be bypassed by another group that does not see the benefits in the product offered. The target market for the ad are men and women with established careers who seek quality clothing that provide luxurious benefits and promote a strong image in society. My audience is already interested in high-quality fashion products and is fashion conscious.The ad targets educated individuals in their late 20s and thirties who are a part of the upper middle class and upper class in society. They read popular fashion magazines like Vogue, Elle, etc and may reside both in urban and suburban areas (NYC/Westchester etc.) The ad combines emotional appeal with sex appeal and targets individuals based on their demographics and social class more than anything else. I combined Coach Products with the images of an attractive male and female model to promote the brand to audiences of both genders who like high-fashion clothing and intertwine it with their lifestyle. This poster portrays typical New York City fashion and it is what I grew up seeing in the streets of Manhattan. I chose the colors blue and gold to signify class and the high-end fashion models to display the products so that it would appeal to my audience. I choose not to make the products or models in color to provide a more mature look so the background is what pops in my advertisement along with the RK logo.

Personally, my niche is a blend of a few niches. I don't feel like I belong to one specific niche just because I like to try different things and be spontaneous with my choice of wardrobe, music, and so forth. I like quality clothing but am price-conscious since I am a college student and do not have a high income on my own. When I was a teenager I identified with the pop-punk kids, I used to go to concerts every other week and used to wear a lot converse, DC skater shoes, and band t-shirts. At my current point in life I am less inclined to stereotype myself since I am still growing and changing my style.

Super Bowl Commercial Critique (Class Activity)

The Super Bowl is notorious for being the "it" show to watch for the newest, best, and worst commercials on TV because every company/product wants to have their ads displayed during Super Bowl Sunday. The fact that so many people tune into watch this game is every marketer's dream aside from the fact that it costs millions to get a spot for one's ad during the game. One of the commercials that I found to be interesting was the Doritos "Casket" Commercial. I watched this ad online because I missed it during last night's game and found it to be a bit strange to promote one's brand & product with the main focus of the commercial centering around a man in a casket. Previous to receiving this assignment I wanted to check out this commercial because it was brought up in another class today that I take called "Death & Dying", which is an Anthropology course. My professor asked us if we had seen the commercial and a good number of my classmates had seen it and related it to the class because we had been talking about how death is portrayed in popular culture and how many people have become desensitized to it.

Now, this commercial is a bit humorous but I don't understand why Doritos would want to have its product associated with death. Are Doritos that good that one would die for or subject themselves to being put in a casket full of the chips as a dying wish? The guy in the casket was pretending to be dead while watching football in his casket full of Doritos. It's a lot different from the popular and successful commercial of the 90s where they used Miss USA, Ali Landry, "the Doritos Girl" to promote Doritos, which made her and the product synonymous. I may only be looking critiquing the ad from this perspective because I am studying the subject matter of "death" in another class. I honestly probably wouldn't have even thought twice about the peculiarity of the commercial but after watching it three to four times I still think that it is pretty bad. The only part that I found to be amusing was after the guy falls out of the casket and the one man stands up in the audience and sings and says "It's a miracle".

It seems like Doritos was trying to target men (the All-American man who watches football & likes to snack) more so than women. I feel like the commercial targets men so that they'd eat Doritos while watching a football. There are no signs that this ad was intended for anyone of a specific class or geographic setting just a regular man who likes to watch sports.Just from looking at this specific commercial, the general audience seems to be men in their late twenties, early thirties(+) that like to eat inexpensive snacks with the loud crunch of Doritos. But I don't get the casket full of Doritos part, I think it's very strange. I understand that it was intended to be comical but I don't see how that was the best way to promote the product, surely it got my attention and raised some eyebrows but it played off of an issue that is sensitive to many people. Then again, advertising in American popular culture differs from that of others; I doubt that people from another culture would find this commercial amusing.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1960734_1960750_1960747,00.html

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Domino's Pizza Change Article

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-12-16-dominos16_ST_N.htm

The only difference that I tasted when eating a slice of the "new" Domino's Pepperoni Pizza was that the crust tasted more like garlic than before. I did not notice a major change in the pizza whatsoever, maybe it's just my taste buds but I am not quite sure as to what this better pizza was supposed to accomplish when it tastes basically the same as the old one. Needless to say, I did enjoy eating a slice for lunch as opposed to the cafeteria food on campus so kudos.

Commercial Jingles (Class Activity)

Commercial Jingles that stuck with me as a kid:

Sock em Boppers Commercial (my brother & I enjoyed these) This commercial made us laugh all of the time because it showed a bunch of kids fighting with these huge inflated "boxer glove" like toys. The first time we got to play with these was a lot of fun and we enjoyed using the simple yet fun toy. The jingle is very catchy and if you're a kid watching this, it is very appealing. The jingle sticks in your head and every time the commercial comes on you can't help but sing a long. It's promoted in the commercial that Sock em Boppers are fun, which to a child is a very good thing and something that you want. "It's more fun than a pillow fight". Watching this commercial years later I laughed, it was a fun thing for my brother & I to play with as kids and didn't hurt to use when playing around, which was a bonus for mom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPhfP72hEIY&feature=related

I thought that these two commercials were pretty funny as well. The double mint gum commercials used to play on my TV over and over when I was younger and the theme song is catchy. I used to sing a long with the 90s commercial song just about every time it appeared on my television. I liked that there were always twins used in the commercial and so forth to promote the double mint gum. The jingle between the two commercials changed between the 70s and 90s to appeal to the audience but the message is still the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGQAAs5quf4 Double Mint Gum 90s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qw1x49UKOU Double Mint Gum 70s

Advertisement-Correlate Popular Culture (Week 2) Revised

The job of an advertiser is to get a specific message across to a consumer at all costs. Their main goal is to get a consumer to filter in a specific message about a brand and process it so that they are inclined to make a purchase. This form of communication is highly influential upon the decisions and actions that people make in their every days lives and constructs a reality that many are unaware is automatically being created. I received this advertisement via e-mail this week from Abercrombie & Fitch which is promoting its spring line for the season and thought it was an interesting choice because of the how the company chooses to portray not only its clothing but its overall image. A&F is a company that has built itself off of its brand image (being sexy) and the equity which it has achieved through its pricey items, the use of its perfectly sculpted models, and professional photographers who capture “sex” to sell the clothes. Most people who have seen the Abercrombie ads can tell you that they all consist of young men and women with near perfect bodies who are usually presented wearing minimal clothing and are often placed in sexual positions to grab the consumer’s attention and lure them into the stores to make a purchase. Yes, we all know sex sells and it’s the obvious lure of the company, but why has it worked for A&F?

Large billboards with images just like the one above can be seen on New York City's 5th Ave and in malls across the country, which expose us as consumers to not only physical and perceptual messages but also play into one's psychological exposure and attention. The message that one receives from looking at an A&F ad is that it is a luxury brand that will make you feel first-rate about yourself in all forms (eg. sexy, fun, cool, and flirty). The company has been able to accumulate a rather loyal fan base especially among teenagers and young adults who consume the image of the reality presented to them (such as A&F makes you the perfect person) because they have been exposed to the ads and images over and over again and have had their visual senses become attuned to the displays. That therefore, has carried over into their psychological senses in which the image has left a trace in the person’s mind which can be drawn on at a later time to connect the image with the brand and one’s self esteems and desires.

A reason why A&F has succeeded is that it is very much integrated into mainstream society and is a part of American pop culture. I find it very interesting that at stores such as the 5^th Ave location there are half naked live models displayed at the entrance of the door to lure people in and generate an interest/response. Furthermore, each of the A&F stores is blasting with pop/rock music and consumed by the same cologne/perfume so that one’s senses identify not only the image with the brand but the smell. Many people are not even aware about the messages that they are being exposed to through these ads (print/living), which seem to be selling more than just clothes but are also selling sex, an automatic selling point, which appeals to just about everyone. As stated in Potter’s book “Media Literacy”, “The meaning of media messages is not always the way it might seem on the surface. There are often many layers of meaning.” (40) The ad above is a prime example of the many layers involved with promoting the brand. For one they use beautiful people that are more than likely airbrushed to look as good as they do. Second they match these perfect people together to display an illusion of what the life of an A&F consumer will be like. Third, the sex crazed society that we live in today has a higher disregard for ethics so this ad would be appealing as it seeks to attract people who all look the same. A downfall of A&F is that it has disregarded the fact that all people are made differently and cannot fit into the false reality of the stereotypical perfect “All American” man or woman. Their ads display nothing but beautiful people to touch upon one’s aesthetic and emotional appeal but don’t realize that they may be hurting someone’s self-image by always showcasing “one type” of person.

It is important for everyone (those who do fit the mold and those who don’t) to understand the numerous levels involved with promoting this brand. One must learn to deconstruct the reality that is created by the great amount of exposure they have to a brand which causes them to have someone else influence the way they view the world and themselves. Buying clothes from A&F is a decision that one makes in order to fulfill a personal goal or feeling. The ad above just like the A&F company as a whole is promoting a lifestyle that is prominent in our society, one in which the clothes you wear speak about the person you are and one in which ads such as the one above go unchallenged and are accepted as a normal way of getting attention. A&F as I recall became a popular brand through word of mouth; you don't find ads for the clothes on television, the radio, or other mediums aside from billboards or the people who wear the brand. It has achieved status as a power symbol (equity) by targeting young individuals with a style (which is layered in itself-just look at how the clothes are displayed together on models) that is well put together and perceived as a cool item to wear.