Over the past several months, American Apparel
has made no secret of its plans for a total brand overhaul. Since firing founder and CEO Dov Charney, the company has hired new CEO Paula Schneider, revised its sexual harassment policy, and, in Schneider's words, begun the "bottom-up process" to de-sleaze the image Charney had created. One of the most obvious places to start is the ad campaigns.
WWD reports that the "Hello Ladies" ads feature various American Apparel employees (not models) of all ages, identified by their name and how long they've been at the company. Rather than slapping a cheeky slogan across the page, the message is straightforward: “Women have always been in charge at American Apparel,” it states. “In fact, women make up 55% of our global workforce (sorry, guys) and an even higher percentage of our leadership and executive roles. This structure is incredibly (and unfortunately) rare in the corporate world.” American Apparel first debuted the campaign a month ago on
Instagram for International Women’s Day, and it will make its print debut in this month’s
issue of Vice (not so coincidentally, the first issue helmed by the magazine's new female editor-in-chief Ellis Jones).
As Cynthia Erland, American Apparel's senior
vice president of marketing, said of the partnership, “We have had a great relationship with Vice for years, and plan on continuing to work closely with them on future campaigns and
partnerships.” Considering these are two polarizing,
historically provocative brands in the midst of their own reinventions, it might just be
a perfect match. (WWD)