Stakeholder #1

Who's Up First?

The first stakeholder that we are going to take a look at is the man himself, Mike Jeffries.

Michael. "Old People's Home Dementia Man Old Age Alzheimer's" 11/10/14 via pixabay. Creative Commons 0 Public Domain License

What's He Like?

When you imagine Mike Jeffries, just think of the kid that does whatever he can to fit in. He buys the preppy clothes, he criticizes others if they aren't the best, and he gets the best work done on his body to make himself feel cooler. Not trying to be harsh, but this guy is just the epitome of what he didn't want to sell his clothes to. He wears what your typical college frat boy used to wear in the early 2000's, and he probably uses A & F cologne that smells like a locker room. He's trying to relive his golden days, but his time is far past that. If there was one word to describe how he talks, think of the word "dude". I feel that we all know that one person who uses the word dude every other word in a sentence. Or think of the word "like". If you're thinking of what I'm thinking of, you know what this kind of person looks like, your typical popular kid at a school. A better way to think of Jeffries is like when your grandfather tries to act "hip". Nobody wants to see that, and it makes bugs crawl under our skin. Don't be the hip grandpa, be yourself instead.

What Did He Say?

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids.” This is from the Salon Interview.

“That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people"

“Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla.”

All of these quotes can be found here.

Analyzing What He Said

These claims came directly from Jeffries himself, so they are very valid claims on what his opinions are. The stakeholder is credible to his opinion because he disclosed them in an interview with Salon. The weight these quotes carry is massive, as it sparked the entire controversy itself and caused an uproar from the female community as soon as it was brought to their attention. Jeffries is able to play with the reader's emotions because he puts down the average and below average people that didn't meet his standards of his clothing company. It also enrages readers because he said these quotes in a harsh and blatant manner, offering no remorse to the feelings of the readers. This caused a hatred from women and men everywhere.

Are They Similar or Different?

These claims are going to similar to A & F's claims before they moved on from Mark Jeffries as their CEO, because they were sure to back their CEO rather than fight him in the process. A & F agreed with Jeffries that their brand were for the aesthetically gifted, that was until they began to sink as a company. These views go strictly against the women of the world that face the discrimination of being fat, as they feel it is unjust to alienate them from the clothing brand. Obviously they're going to conflict with the people they are excluding, however, I do feel that Jeffries didn't realize the backlash that his comments would have on him and his company.