Love 21 Maternity
This link leads to Forever 21's line of maternity clothing. This store targets mainly "tween" and teenage girls but their consumer age range varies. The new addition of this line is only in stores in five states, coincidentally the five states with the highest rates of teen pregnancy (found on an online article about this topic). Forever 21 has said that the location of their stores are unintentional and there is no correlation between that and encouraging teen pregnancy.
Do you think this teen retailer is encouraging pregnancy by making a "fashion-forward" maternity line?
Would you consider this inappropriate for a clothing line which typically targets young girls?
Do you think it's just a coincidence that the maternity line is sold in the five states with the highest rates of teen pregnancy or is it a marketing strategy?
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ReplyDeleteI do not believe Forever 21 is encouraging teenage pregnancy by providing a “fashion-forward” maternity line. The overall goal in retail is to always increase in sells. The company may have simply noticed an increase in teenage pregnancy in the past couple of years and realized that starting a maternity line would increase sells. I do believe this is slightly inappropriate for a teen line of clothing that typically targets young girls. I do not think they are promoting pregnancy but they are making accommodations for it. I believe pregnancy is not something that should be associated with teenagers in any form whether it is through fashion or other means. However I do not believe simply knowing that a popular clothing line, such as Forever 21, has a maternity line will influence someone to think teenage pregnancy is acceptable.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the selling of the maternity line in the five states with the highest rates of teen pregnancy is pure coincidence. A clothing line is such a small factor. There are truly so many other crucial factors that can affect teenage pregnancy besides “looking cute”.
I wouldn't say that the company is promoting teen pregnancy, but I do think it's extremely inappropriate to sell maternity wear in a store that is targeted to teenagers as young as 14. Brittany brought up a good point that the overall goal in retail is to always increase in sells but I've seen some of the clothing and it is really cute which to some girls may make it seem as if pregnancy isn't so bad. I'm only referencing girls that I personally know, but I'm sure others can agree that one of the negative things associated with pregnancy is "getting fat" and "not being cute". Well, seeing these clothes may make it seem like it's not so bad to a young naive girl. It's just an idea. But back to the original question, I don't think the company is promoting teen pregnancy; they're just smart with where they sell that specific line of clothing.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that the company is promoting teenage pregnancy at all. Every company that is trying to increase their profit should try to appeal to as many buyers as possible. Since they also have customers that are not teenage girls, it seems appropriate to me that they would have come out with a maternity line. This way they can appeal to a larger target audience. I think they are simply just trying to get more people to shop at their store. It does seem odd however that they would open these lines in states with such high teenage pregnancy rates, but these states may also have higher pregnancy rates in older women too. It may just be coincidence.
ReplyDeleteForever 21 is a well known clothing line specializing in teenage inspired garments. Unfortunately, Forever 21 as also a business. Because Forever 21 is a large corporation with the sole purpose of generating capital, maternity clothing that is fashionable could be that niche that serves them. The main target of Forever 21 is girls looking for high demand fashion, and maternity clothing could be just that. Whilst the company itself wants to have a proper demeanor, adolescences desire a place to fit in where their friends shop. The fashion store only having maternity clothing in the five states with highest teenage pregnancies reveals Forever 21’s attempt to reach out to different varieties of teenagers.
ReplyDeleteThe designer store as a whole greatly appeals to teenage girls and serves as a strong basis as to what’s acceptable. The marketing strategy directed towards young pregnant women may be interpreted as an unacceptable occurrence; however the style of clothing is also presented to aid those who want to fit in, rather than excluding a specific kind of adolescent. The store’s reasons for the maternity line may come from a variety of ideas, yet it is difficult to conclude that the company is promoting teenage pregnancies. The store as a whole wants to include every type of teenager, thus aiding the company in capital, whilst making each type of young girl feel included. No adolescent deserves to be left out, even if they have made mistakes in the past.
I do not feel that Forever 21 is encouraging teen pregnancy by creating a maternity line. Forever 21 is one of the largest teen retailers in the U.S. I believe the focus of this line is simply to increase sales and to stay up with competition of other retailers. Today, it is very common for most clothing retailers to have a maternity line. Also, since the store is also the main attraction for young adults, typically aged 20-25, so I feel it is totally appropriate for the corporation to invest in a maternity line. However, I do feel that having the maternity line only in the states with the highest pregnancy rates is not a coincidence. It is most likely a scheme created by the company to interpret if the line is a hit or miss. If the consumer rates are high, Forever 21 will probably move the line to all stores in the near future. Once again, Forever 21 is business; they’re in it to win it.
ReplyDeleteForever 21, a business not only popular in the United States but also expanding into Europe and Asia, is not promoting teen pregnancy through their Love 21 maternity line. As any other business does, it is merely attempting to expand it's range of appeal to women that are, in fact, pregnant. Three of the five states the store has released this line to are among the top 15 states with the highest rate of teen pregnancy. However, these three states, California, Arizona and Texas, are also among the top 16 most populated states. Love 21 is also available online, so regardless of location, women are able to purchase articles of maternity clothing. Forever 21 is only attempting to increase sales, it is not making pregnancy "cute", it's enabling pregnant women to continue to express themselves in a fashionable way.
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