How a CEO Can Wreck a Brand in One Interview: Lessons From Abercrombie & Fitch vs. Dove

The power of a CEO to make (or break) a brand can never be overestimated — even in an interview that took place seven years ago. That's just what has happened in the case of Abercrombie & Fitch: an incredibly ill-advised interview that A&F CEO Mike Jeffries granted to Salon magazine in 2006 has found new life on the internet. And if his comments — including that he only wants the young, beautiful and thin to wear his clothes — were insensitive and politically incorrect then, today they're practically an invitation to riot.