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The Aerie Girls and Terrible TV Advertising

Aerie GirlsThe Aerie Girls may be saying, “I can really identify with Rory Gilmore because I have gone through heartbreak before,” but all I’m hearing is, “I am being paid by American Eagle to act like I am having a casual conversation with my friends.”

The Aerie Girls are a made up group of girls, like O-Town (snap?), created by American Eagle to pretend to be your friends. As thrilling as that may be for the 13 year old boys out there, it makes me very angry.

American Eagle has teamed up with The CW on Tuesdays to bring you the Aerie Girls during commercial segments of the Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. During these commercials, the Aerie Girls will relate to each other about what has happened during the TV shows you have been watching. By “relate” I mean “read words from a script.”

If you are a commercial for American Eagle, come out and say you are a commercial for American Eagle. Don’t put on this horribly fake persona and pretend I’m an idiot.

And another thing. Radio, I’m talking to you here. I know you are not in a bar talking to real people about what shows are coming up this week. Cut the act. If I was deaf and blind and had no nerve endings and was dead, I could see right through your horrible advertising techniques.

I want everyone to get mad about this Aerie Girls thing. Get angry. Let American Eagle know that you aren’t a stupid cow in a field chewing your cud and waiting to be slaughtered. No, that’s too cliché.

Let American Eagle know you had a casual conversation about the Aerie Girls with your friends, and have decided to shop at the GAP instead.

Wait, the GAP has those creepy Audrey Hepburn commercials. I think we’re in a lose-lose situation here, American consumers.

Just shop at Target. Yeah, that’ll work.


25 Comments »

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  1. I completely agree. I was watching Veronica Mars, getting into the mysteries that would ensue, and then some random circle of girls talking about how Veronica is so strong for staying with her high school boyfriend. This may appeal to Gilmore Girls’ fanbase, but Veronica Mars is nothing like an Aerie Girl. And on top of that, it’s a freakin’ American Eagle commercial?! I almost feel shitty for buying their shoes, except that they were mad cheap.

    Comment by John YC — October 4, 2006 #

  2. Andy Warhol, outdated, not 15 minutes – 15 MB of Fame

    If Andy Warhol was still alive today he’d have to alter his assertion about everyone having 15 minutes of fame to 15 MB of fame (I think it’s more like 15 GB of Fame – why stop at a couple…

    Trackback by WebMetricsGuru — October 4, 2006 #

  3. Well, good news, Aric. The ratings are in and while they aren’t great, the males 18-34 increased 23% for Veronica Mars over what Gilmore Girls did. I think that might send a message to CW that they want to do some more male friendly marketing and scrap the stupid Aerie girls. At least we can hope.

    Comment by J. — October 4, 2006 #

  4. I was thoroughly annoyed by the Aerie girls too, and I just sent AE an email saying that I was completely turned off to their products because of it.

    Comment by Amy — October 4, 2006 #

  5. I taped Veronica Mars last night off of KTLA, so I had the luxury of fast-forwarding through that segment when I watched it. If I did watch it live, I probably wouldn’t return to the show, if I changed the channel but found something else and accidentally didn’t switch back, I would have been left out.

    This is why we need a Canadian carrier for that show that won’t pull out unannounced, and is available in most every home

    Comment by Colin — October 5, 2006 #

  6. It certainly does not appeal to gilmore girls fans. And I even like ae and aerie. Not so much now though.

    Comment by Ali — October 5, 2006 #

  7. I think all of you need to get a life. Really. How can you be that annoyed by a couple of 30 second spots?

    Comment by shannon — October 6, 2006 #

  8. Moo.

    Comment by Diane Gibson — October 9, 2006 #

  9. wow someone is really angry.. but i guess he thought he was gonna be able to get some from the girls.. whoops.. anyway..

    all of you guys calm down.. jeez if you dont like turn around.. or just go get a glass of water then continue with the show..

    personally i like them girls.. its better than the other commercial crack we see on tv

    Comment by Jameson — October 14, 2006 #

  10. Well, you are all wrong. Really wrong. And I know. The Aerie girls are NOT reading from a script. They are NOT picked by AE, they are NOT twits and they are hardly any different than all these people spending their time writing in blogs what they think about the tv shows. Only they are the ones on tv and not you. I’m just hearing what sounds like ‘sour grapes’. Guess you’d rather go back to ‘ads’ shoving products in your face? Hmmm.

    Comment by Nebraska Day — October 25, 2006 #

  11. I never said they were picked by AE. They were created by AE.

    They purchased Aerie merchandise and then magically they were whisked away to a couch where they could talk about boys.

    Thanks for supporting your arguments.

    Comment by Aric McKeown — October 25, 2006 #

  12. Though I don’t watch CW, this post has inspired me to continue to not shop at American Eagle. Well, either way, I would still have continued to not shop at American Eagle. Thanks anyway!

    Comment by Kohl's shopper — October 29, 2006 #

  13. I’m glad I could inspire you to stay exactly the way you always were.

    Comment by Aric McKeown — October 30, 2006 #

  14. Is all this complaining for real?

    Advestisments come in many forms. This is the 21st century. A group of girls lounging in tastefully chosen underwear isn’t the end of the world. This is neither degrading nor really that big of a deal.

    Girls discussing situations on televesion (even if it is scripted) is not different than posting a complaint on a blog for strangers to comment.

    Please find something a litle more meaningful to bitch about.

    Comment by Joe Weagraff — November 5, 2006 #

  15. Yes you twit, this complaining is for real because Gilmore Girls is (was?) a great show with great actors and an intelligent script. People who love the show hate Aerie girls because their inane comments break the flow of the show.

    Comment by Daniel Beckman — December 6, 2006 #

  16. It’s not degrading, just annoying. I’ll shop at American Eagle, nonetheless, and I like Aerie, but the commericials are pretty…airy. Most teenage girls are not like that, and when my friends and I talk about a show, we show a bit more emotion than the Aerie girls. [note the sarcasm]

    Comment by Saida — January 16, 2007 #

  17. I am around the same age as all of the “Aerie Girls” and I can say that when my friend and I discuss the lastest Gilmore developements, we don’t sound like that. They annoy me to no end, and I won’t boycott American Eagle or anything but I am so happy they’re gone…they’re just not realistic. They are ads, and I don’t understand why they have to pretend they really care about the shows.

    Comment by Grace — January 30, 2007 #

  18. Ok retail better wake up because people are going to start spending their hard earned money with companies that actually have some morals. Stop treating our kids like pieces of meat. Our kids are smart and some day they will be running our companies and governments. Lets bring God back and have teach integrity.

    Comment by Nancy — February 20, 2008 #

  19. Hey, yeah! Great idea! Everybody, let’s bring God back! Of course! It was right in front of us the whole time!

    Comment by Aric McKeown — February 21, 2008 #

  20. I never saw the commercials… but if we are truly allowing a bad advertising stunt to prevent us ENTIRELY from shopping at a company because they were promoting conversation amung friends, scripted or not, they win. What’s the old saying…? Any publicity is good publicity. I’ve shopped at aerie.. in fact I’m a regular. The customer service and experience in the store is by far the best there is. Appealing to a very large demographic they make anyone feel at ease… as if they are sitting around talking to their friends. When is the last time you refused to read a book (or watch a DVD) because the cover was ugly? Be adults. Give them a shot.

    Comment by Katie — June 15, 2008 #

  21. Well I have never seen these commercials but am angry still the same! I am an Aerie girl, at an actual Aerie store. How many times has someone gone into hollister and asked for a size when the employee looks dumbfounded? Or into a store where they hound you to buy something? Aerie is truly all about hanging with the girls and actually getting to know them and making friends. A place where girls can go and get something special for a friend or get their bad day out of their heads by sitting on a day bed and letting it all out…THAT’s what we’re there for and we don’t hire fake people so regardless of what anybody thinks of a stupid commercial, AE is the shit! Been around since 1977! And don’t charge an arm and a leg and a first child to look great!

    Comment by Heather — June 25, 2008 #

  22. I too am an actual Aerie girl, working at an Aerie store. I am also a huge Gilmore Girls fan. I never saw the commercial spots, but give a new brand a break people! When those commercials aired the Aerie line was brand new, basically still in testing mode. I have never worked for a more caring company! The truth is, American Eagle only hires girls who really care about customers having a nice time finding what they’re looking for at a price that fits their budget. Real Aerie girls are NOT FAKE! Of course it’s gonna sound fake on camera for a commercial…if you want reality then go shop at the store jeez.

    Another thing…our target market is 13-20 year old girls, upbeat idealistic commercials aren’t a bad way to go.

    Comment by Kristy — July 19, 2008 #

  23. I’m a Gilmore Girls fan in Australia so never saw these ads, but recently saw a few seconds of one when watching a GG special on youtube. I found it hilariously awful! It was clearly scripted and unconvincingly trying to seem natural. The commentary totally missed the point of the show and it seems running these ads is extremely insulting to the intelligence of the show’s viewers. I guarantee if this was some phenomenon on another TV show, the writers would have gone out of their way to have the Gilmores mention their distaste for the ads!

    To the Aerie girls that commented above, you’re not helping. I’m glad you like your job and the company you work for, but people have NO obligation whatsoever to give a brand “a break”. If they do a stupid marketing tactic, they should know how people honestly feel about it. I think if anything, the public has an obligation to be honest. They piggy-backed onto quality shows and added something that taints the experience for those unfortunate. I can’t imagine watching a beloved, intelligent show and ads coming on discussing what I was watching and not only getting it completely wrong, but being antithetical to what the show was about. I would complain loudly too!

    Another tactic AE should know doesn’t work is sending employees here to comment anonymously, as they clearly have prior to the two commenters who actually said they were Aerie girls. The commenters defending the ads are even less believable than the ads themselves. There is no way there are just random members of the public who feel so positively about those ads they have to passionately defend them and in the process put down the people complaining. There are just too many tell-tale signs in those comments that they are from people connected to AE.

    A real defence would be more like: “they are kinda cheesy, but I must admit I like them” or “I don’t get it what’s wrong with them”. I would wager a large amount there are barely any members of the public that would be so adamantly pro-these ads they would lecture as to the merits of these ads, defend the rights of advertisers, attack bloggers for posting their opinions – all without ever saying why they LIKE the ads. Haha, another nice try AE… you are clearly out of touch with the real world.

    Comment by C. — April 11, 2009 #

  24. oops, didn’t finish a sentence: for those unfortunate enough to be subjected to these ads when viewing a favourite program.

    Another point I wanted to add:

    Not only should viewers absolutely be free to be honest about how ads make them feel, when a company crosses a line like this and attaches itself to quality creations like these TV shows and displays little regard for the spirit of these shows, people have every right to feel offended and a bit disgusted. However good you may think the brand and their policies are, they messed up here.

    Comment by C. — April 11, 2009 #

  25. I absolutely agree with you, C.

    Comment by Andy — July 25, 2010 #

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