A while back I wrote an article on Abercrombie & Fitch, which you can read here; I was critical of the company for paying too much attention to its brand image of being cool and hip, at the cost of bad publicity and alienating potential customers. Well, the company has recently been the subject of a huge wave of criticism in the UK - is it more of the same?

In the UK, 11th November is commemorated as Remembrance Day, when the country - and much of the Commonwealth - pays tribute to service personnel killed in the line of duty; the date was chosen as the day the First World War ended. On the run-up to the day the poppy is worn as a symbol of respect, chosen because it was one of the first flowers to grow in the fields devastated by the trench warfare in northern France. It is sold by the Royal British Legion, which raises funds to assist current and former members of the British armed forces.

In the days before Remembrance Day, an 18-year-old, working in a branch of Hollister (a chain owned by Abercrombie & Fitch) was told to remove the poppy she was wearing since it was not in the company's dress code. When she showed up the following day still wearing the poppy, she was again told to remove it. When the story broke, the company became the target of outrage, first in the media and then by consumers; there are no fewer than five Facebook groups protesting at the move, and there have been calls for the company's stores to be boycotted.

Well, I'm going to come to their defense, at least partially. As far as I can tell, this was an isolated incident rather than a general policy being enforced, so this all came out of the actions of one person, in one store. And the company issued a press release which stated: "…as an American company that has been in existence since 1892, we very much appreciate the sacrifices of both British and American servicemen and women in the World Wars and in military conflicts that continue to this day." So the company is hardly to blame, right?

Actually, I think they are to blame, even though this was a one-off. Firstly, the person who tried to have the poppy removed might not have done so if the company didn't have such a strict dress code, or was so paranoid about the appearance of its 'front of house' staff. Second, the same press release that 'appreciated the sacrifices' was about as mealy-mouthed as it could be; it went on: "Our company policy is currently to permit associates to wear a poppy as a token of this appreciation on Remembrance Day. In the future, we will revisit, in light of local custom, whether to extend the policy to the days or weeks leading up to Remembrance Day." So a poppy can be worn, but only on Remembrance Day itself. And third, the previous incidents give the media a hook, some evidence that this isn't just one over-zealous supervisor.

In my previous article I concluded "slavish adherence to an image which is designed to appeal to a specific niche can alienate potential customers who don't quite fit the profile." For me, this latest incident illustrates another drawback: expecting a dress code (or any other kind, for that matter) to be rigidly enforced leaves staff with no latitude, no room for compromise or common sense. That may not seem a big deal at the time, especially if appearance is a key component of your brand image; but when it leads to a PR gaffe on this scale, with articles in national media and such a reaction on social media, then a slightly more relaxed attitude can pay off in the long term.