All throughout high school, I remember seeing makeshift textbook covers with shirtless Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister Co. models made from the brands iconic navy and nude paper bags. Next school year though, there might not be any shirtless male paper bags to make textbook covers.

That’s because Abercrombie and its sister brand Hollister will be doing away with their “sexualized marketing.” By the end of July both brands will stop using sexualized images in their materials, including in-store photos, gift cards and shopping bags. There will no longer be shirtless male models at store openings and events at either the namesake brand or the Hollister chain. In fact, the new title for all store associates is “brand representative,” not “model.”

I’m sure tweens everywhere are crying at the news. I’m not going to lie, I’m slightly disappointed that I don’t get to see abs when I walk by the store or pass over an ad online, but such sexualized images are not healthy for anyone’s body image.

So why the sudden change?

For the past 12 consecutive quarters Abercrombie’s sales have been declining, according to Retail Metrics. In response, Abercrombie has said it’s pulling back its logo business and developing new styles faster. In the past few years, teens and young adults have been abandoning preppy-styled stores for their fast-fashion counterparts, like Forever 21 or H&M.

Not only is Abercrombie changing its clothes and marketing style, it’s also changing the other thing that makes the brand distinct: the ambiance of their store. Say goodbye to being choked by too much cologne. Say goodbye to moody, dim lighting that doesn’t allow you to see anything. Say goodbye to the navy wood-planked shutters.

In addition, Abercrombie is letting its stores’ managers have more control over displays so stores feel less “prescriptive.” The brand has even pledged to be “more inclusive and diverse” in hiring and dress codes, saying it won’t hire staff “based on body type or physical attractiveness,” according to an April 24 New York Post article.

Abercrombie isn’t the only retail company abandoning its image. American Apparel, known for its crude marketing and porn-like ads, is apparently moving away from sexualized marketing since Paula Schneider replaced founder and CEO, Dov Charney in January.

I understand that they’re trying to be more inclusionary and mainstream because that will help them with sales. But at the same time, these brands are losing their identity. I know Abercrombie as the store with the shirtless guys modeling in the storefront. I know American Apparel as the brand whose ads show more naked women than the clothes they’re trying to market. Pretty soon no one is going to know how to identify them anymore

We all know that sex sells, and for whatever reason these brands are abandoning that marketing technique. In American Apparel’s case, I can understand because their ads have been called pornographic. No one wants to carry that stigma. But at the same time they don’t need to do a 180.

And in Abercrombie’s case, I think there was no need to abandon their shirtless models and cut back on logos. Their real problem lays in the fact that they were making clothes for one body type — one that no one could fit into. Changing the mood of their stores to be more open and bright might help, but they didn’t need to change their clothes. Preppy is still in, otherwise Ralph Lauren would have gone out of style ages ago.

Since both companies have started to put their plans into action, I guess it’s an end of an era — one in which shirtless men entice you to buy polo shirts and smell like sandalwood. I’m going to miss this era, but I’m interested to see what these two brands do when shaping their new identity, because right now, I have no idea who they are.

Alexis McDonell is a junior magazine journalism major. Her column appears weekly in Pulp. You can email her at admcdone@syr.edu or reach her on Twitter at @AlexisMickD.

Published on May 13, 2015 at 10:26 am