Packaging Cool.

As I walk up to my job I can hear the music playing from quite a distance, it’s Kid Cudi’s Day and Nite. I sigh as I realize that it’s still the same loop from two weeks ago. I’ve memorized every song by now and the decibel level is at its normal 85, loud enough to engage the customer yet just soft enough to not cause physical damage. AE Real for Him Cologne is in rotation this shift, a change from the standard AE Real for Her. The music, the trendy clothes, and the hand-picked employees all create an environment, one that not only promotes but damn near forces the acquisition of cool.

And as I start my shift, I can only expect much of the same, eager eyed teenagers looking to obtain the latest trend, sustained only by their parents allowance and whatever they could earn from their minimum wage summer jobs. American Eagle Outfitters is an advertisers/marketers dream. Its customers all chasing a dream or some type of trivial fulfillment, a fulfillment that is only satisfied for a short time by a petty item of ironically expensive clothing. Jacques Lacan described this longing as something that can never be filled because it comes from desires that originate in the infantile and childhood stages of development. Lacan may be right about his theory, but it most certainly does not stop teens from dropping hundreds of dollars on items promising the effect of the “cool.”

I think that we can all agree that AE personifies the theory of commodity fetishism. The product is removed from its original meaning and given a new value, one of coolness, self-confidence and popularity. There are thousands of other pieces of clothing that serve the same purpose, but ultimately lack the branding power that AE posses. The result: millions of teens purchasing AE products in the attempts to achieve the meaning that AE attaches to their brand. This is business at its best. AE has come up with a strategy that plays on the insecurities of the masses, thus creating an infallible business model set up to achieve long-term success.