Lesbian kiss fails to boost profits
An advert featuring a lesbian catfight and embrace has failed to boost fashion designer French Connection’s profits after it announced its first loss in 14 years today.
The brand, which dropped its FCUK logo for a £2 million Fashion versus Style campaign, announced losses of over £3 million for the first six months of this year, compared to profits of over £5 million previously.
It follows a recent drop in retail sales, Stephen Marks, French Connection chairman said: “The challenges we faced during the last financial year have continued to impact trading in the new year. It has taken longer than we had hoped to translate the changes we have made in our business into sales growth.”
“Our commitment to making great products for our customers in terms of individuality, quality and price remains the focus of our work. We recognise that in the past we have not met our customers’ expectations, however the strong initial reaction to the new Winter collections indicates that our efforts are having an impact.
“We will keep on working to improve our ranges and all operational aspects of our business. The indications are that we were beginning to achieve our goals, with sales in the early part of the new season encouragingly ahead of last year”
Shot in the stylised manner of Kill Bill and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, the advert, directed by David Bowie’s son Duncan Jones, depicts a choreographed struggle for supremacy between 2 girls, one representing fashion, the other, style.
It received over 60 complaints in its first week.
