American Apparel's Halloween Promotion: Scary for All the Wrong Reasons
American Apparel (APP)'s Halloween promotion appears to confirm that CEO Dov Charney is fast morphing into the anti-Midas of fashion. American Apparel's "Halloween Costume Builder" suggests AA's off-the-rack items can be incorporated into cr-a-a-zy Fright Night outfits.
On paper, this is a great idea. Problem is, they look awful, they're not sexy and they're not scary. How wrong can you go on Halloween? This wrong (image at right): That's supposed to be a "high school wrestler." Who is going to wear that, exactly?
AA appears to have completely misunderstood the modern role of Halloween: It's the one day of the year a woman can dress in a skimpy outfit, get drunk, and not be accused of being a slut. This is a robust tradition. Marketers misunderstand this at their peril -- Halloween is second only to Christmas in terms of consumer gift spending. During the rest of the year, AA sells the kind of clothing that fits the "sexy" description (such as this appropriate-for-nowhere bodysuit, right) but, inexplicably, for Halloween it's showcasing a range of demure, boring costume ideas of the kind that might be proposed by Ned Flanders.
AA's new direction is toward preppy, so perhaps the Halloween collection is in lockstep with that. But the whole thing looks like a mistake. I've criticized the company before for basically getting everything wrong. But when you're a youth-oriented fashion company, "pissing people off" does you no harm at all with da yoof, as a brand positioning.
I'm not alone. Here's a sample of reactions to the promotion:
Crushable: American Apparel Wants To Destroy Halloween
The Frisky: ... it would appear that American Apparel's idea of a "Halloween costume" is shockingly similar to the outfits the retailer normally peddles (which, to some, may indeed be quite scary).
BuzzFeed: American Apparel has a tool that lets you build cruddy Halloween costumes out of their preexisting collection of clothing. I'm taking this to mean that they're admitting that their clothing is ridiculous enough to double as a costume.Camp Blood: We all know these are 100% ridiculous to begin with. ... All these costumes are barely original, barely wearable, totally expensive, and totally can be purchased at thrift stores.
Gawker: They are simply normal American Apparel clothes with fancifully themed titles.
One of the few "sexy" outfits AA does propose is "Lonely Lady," (right). If there's a Halloween reference in there, I'm not getting it -- which makes it a bad choice for the Eve of All Saints Day because you can really turn a Halloween party into a nightmare by showing up in a costume that no one "gets."Normally I'd conclude that we'll see whether the promo actually boosted sales by looking at AA's impending Q3 2010 earnings report -- but of course the company is such a disaster area it hasn't even filed a Q2 report, and that's due in mid-November.
Here's a gallery of some other Halloween horrors from AA:
Related:
- In Bed With the Boss: Who's Really Under American Apparel's Sheets?
- Why American Apparel's Discount Advertising Is the Worst Move It Could've Made
- At American Apparel, the Federal Subpoena and SEC Probe Aren't Even the Worst Part
- Will Anyone Care About American Apparel Ads If They Don't Include Nudity?