Sex Appeal, Surf Culture and Seduction: Exploring the Hollister Experience

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Sex Appeal, Surf Culture and Seduction: Exploring the Hollister Experience Joanne Mullen, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland Lorna Stevens, University of the West of Scotland

This exploratory, qualitative study of Hollister draws on written in-depth interviews and subjective personal introspections from customers. Set against the growing literature on sensory servicescapes and experiential branding, the paper demonstrates that the Hollister experience evokes strong and contradictory reactions in those who took part in the study.

[to cite]: Joanne Mullen and Lorna Stevens (2013) ,"Sex Appeal, Surf Culture and Seduction: Exploring the Hollister Experience", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 10, eds. Gert Cornelissen, Elena Reutskaja, and Ana Valenzuela, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 277-278.

[url]: http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/1014086/volumes/v10e/E-10

[copyright notice]: This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in part, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at http://www.copyright.com/. Sex Appeal, Surf Culture and Seduction: Exploring the Hollister Experience Lorna Stevens, University of the West of Scotland* Joanne Mullen, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland*

EXTENDED ABSTRACT METHODOLOGY This exploratory, qualitative study draws on in-depth interviews The study drew on 25 written subjective personal introspections and written subjective personal introspections, focuses specifically and in-depth interviews in order to explore consumers’ experience on how Hollister customers feel about the Hollister store experience. of visiting a Hollister store. SPI, pioneered by Holbrook (1986) is a Hollister Co. (HCO) has established itself as the quintessential form of autoethnography (Holbrook, 2005), which ideally provides American clothing brand, associated with surfing culture and beauti- insights into an individual’s reflections, thoughts, mental images, ful teenagers. The brand offers laid back, Southern California (SoCal) feelings, sensations and behaviours (Gould (1995). To strengthen surfer style clothing in the teen retail sector,and currently achieves and complement this method, and as recommended by Holbrook, we international sales in excess of $1.5 billion annually. Since 2008 the also conducted in-depth interviews with participants. All of the data parent company has progressively pushed the brand globally, and focused on one particular Hollister store in the UK, which in terms of there has been rapid expansion, particularly in the UK (Ward, 2008). tangible and intangible cues typifies all Hollister stores worldwide. As a background to the study, three key literatures are briefly The research was conducted over a six month period and a total of reviewed: on branding, servicescapes and sensory marketing. Build- twenty five SPIs and in-depth interviews were analysed. ing on the early insights of Holbrook and Hirschman on experiential consumption (1981; 1982), branding increasingly relies on symbolic SUMMARY OF FINDINGS associations and lifestyle impressions (see, for example, Holt, 2004; A number of key findings emerged from the data, which illus- Sherry, 1998; Gobe, 2010). Above all, brands now strive to build sat- trate the complexity of the Hollister experience and the pitfalls of isfying experiences that mirror human relationships (Fournier, 1998; engaging in full-scale sensory assaults, and four key responses were Miller, 2006). This involves creating excitement, connectedness and identified: Seduction, Intimidation, Nostalgia and Exasperation. community (Sheane, 2012), and giving brands energy, visibility and In terms of positive responses, the state of Seduction was meaning to their target market (Aaker, 1996). Group membership, characterised as an Alice Through the Looking Glass experience of peer group acceptance and sexual attractiveness are identified as key stepping through the glass into another, more alluring world. The issues for young consumers (Harwood, 1999). dim lighting and beautiful props immediately created a dream-like, Much has been written about servicescapes and their importance enchanted atmosphere. The profusion of aesthetically pleasing staff for creating memorable consumer experiences. There has also been a increased the sense of being carried away on a fantasy-fuelled tide of recognition of the value of ‘themed flagship brand stores’ (Kozinets abandonment, and of belonging to the exclusive, sexy, SoCal beach et al 2002), which provide a memorable and engaging brand encoun- club of beautiful people. The styling of the Hollister stores is roman- ter, and use tangible and intangible elements to create stimulating tic and glamorous, with dark wood panelling, potted palms, exotic brand experiences (see, for example, Mehrabian and Russell, 1974; wallpapers, crystal chandeliers, antique armchairs, and retro-styled Bitner, 1992; Kozinets, Sherry, DeBerry-Spence (2002); Gilboa and posters of gorgeous ‘dudes’ and ‘Bettys’. Nostalgia, real or imag- Rafaeli, 2003; Kearney et al 2007). Music, lighting, design, props, ined, is thus encouraged, and some participants loved the amorous colour schemes, and olfactory and tactile cues appeal to consumers’ musings the store invited. five senses as they enter these retail spaces. However, other participants found the Hollister experience to Sensory marketing draws attention to the significance of the hu- be one of Intimidation, feeling as if they had entered an alien, elit- man senses in creating a ‘supreme sensory experience of a brand’, ist environment in which they didn’t belong. The perceived air of according to Hulten, Broweus and Van Dijk (2009, p. vii). Oddly luxury and exclusivity was experienced as intimidating, and this was enough, these authors make no reference to sex appeal, a key ele- compounded by the ‘hauteur’ of staff. Other consumers’ sense of in- ment in many sectors, not least fashion (Pettinger, 2004). Consum- timidation was based on more tangible elements: very loud music, ers evaluate brands according to the match between brands and their dark, rabbit-warren-like rooms, poor visibility due to the low level own body image perceptions, and the body signifies membership to lighting, and concern that they would walk into other people in the particular subcultures (Schroeder and Salzer-Mörling (2006: 157). semi-darkness. Body awareness and comparison with others is particularly intense Finally, a number of participants felt Exasperation. This is like for teenage consumers (Festinger, 1954), and indeed Harwood no other retail environment, and consumers who didn’t ‘see the beau- (1999) identified that teenagers buy for three main reasons: to show ty within’, as one enamoured participant put it, were infuriated with individualism, to attract the opposite sex, and for acceptance by their the dark, disorientating interior; little or no customer service or inter- desired peer group. action with staff; the impossibility of seeing colours, sizes and labels; One cannot argue with the old adage that sex sells products (see, and the nightclub volume of music, which left them feeling dizzy, for example, Driessen, 2005; Dahl et al. 2009), but Hollister, shame- disorientated, temporarily deafened, and gasping for air and daylight. lessly, one might argue, uses an intense form of sensuous marketing To conclude, Hollister creates an environment that its audience with sex appeal at its core, by employing aesthetically pleasing fe- either loves or hates: once consumers step ‘through the looking glass’ male and male shop floor staff (‘models’) and male ‘lifeguards’. This they either ‘suspend their disbelief’ and allow themselves to suc- ‘walking self-marketing’ branding strategy is one of the most visible cumb to its romantic enchantments, or they remain detached and re- examples of aesthetic labour in retailing. Shop floor employees are gard the Hollister experience as a dystopian servicescape nightmare carefully groomed to fit the brand aesthetic of embodying the SoCal of over-sexed fakery, manipulation and impracticality. lifestyle, in order to encourage customers to buy into the brand. REFERENCES Aaker, D. (1996) Building Strong Brands, New York: Free Press.

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