Stephen Colbert Weighs in on American Eagle's Fake Aerie Man Campaign
Posted on April 7, 2016
American Eagle appeared to be launching a male version of its Aerie campaign called AerieMan late last month. People were excited to see the brand also getting involved in promoting the male body in a positive way. These hopes were dashed when we learned that the positive male body imaging campaign was just an April Fool's joke. American Eagle says the ad was a parody of its #AerieReal campaign. There will be no men's version of the Aerie brand.
ABC News reports that the fake Aerie Man campaign left some people upset on social media. People had hoped it was real.
Chad Kessler, American Eagle Outfitters Global Brand President, said in a statement, "We aren't afraid of being bold in how we engage our customers, whether through a video that makes you think twice, or challenging the norm in how a brand markets to men. We are an all-inclusive brand and we know our male customers respond to humor."
Stephen Colbert is also upset about Aerie Man and talked about the April Fool's joke on The Late Show. He notes that one of the biggest problems with the campaign is that the video was posted way ahead of April Fool's Day. It was posted on March 23rd and not on April 1st. If it had been posted on the appropriate date for a joke then people never would have taken it seriously.Take a look: