Abercrombie & Fitch CEO, Mike Jeffries, has alienated 66% of his potential female target market, including millions of moms who shop for their kids and teens. The 61-year-old CEO of the popular clothing line says he only wants “thin, beautiful people” shopping at Abercrombie.

Say what?

Have you checked recent statistics, Mr. Jeffries? According to womenshealth.gov, 66 percent of adult women are overweight and 32 percent of adolescent girls are overweight. That’s a lot of market share to give up over a pant size. In a 2006 interview with salon.com, Jeffries said his company is “absolutely exclusionary” because he thinks companies that try to target everyone fail.

I’ll give him that much but blowing off such a large number of potential female shoppers is not a smart move. When marketing to women, the message matters just as much as the product you sell. The message Jeffries is sending says “you suck and can’t be a part of our club if your pants size is larger than a 10.” No matter the age, women are emotional shoppers. Make us mad and we’ll tell everyone we know- and even a few we don’t.

It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out on the national stage, but I’m one female consumer of many who will no longer support the Abercrombie brand.

Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, is a genius when it comes to marketing to women, and she’s has been all over the news after her recent interview on 60 Minutes. Sandberg’s book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, is a topic of controversy among both men and women. I was captivated by her interview and immediately ordered the book. She believes we are our own worst enemies when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder and accessing positions of leadership and power. Sandberg cites a number of reasons.

Fletcher PR, a marketing firm specializing in marketing to women, created this public awareness campaign

According to the book Inbound Marketing, by Brian Halligan, "people shop and learn in a whole new way compared to just a few years ago." Halligan goes on to say that marketers must adapt their methods or risk extinction. One way that the marketing ballgame has changed is due to the internet and way we use it to shop and gather information.

Women Entrepreneurs

Women own 10.6 million businesses in the United States.
They employ 19.1 million workers--that's one in every seven employees.
Their businesses account for $2.5 trillion in sales.

Twin Peaks is a restaurant in Texas that has experienced a boom in business, but it's probably not because of the food. The waitresses at Twin Peaks wear skimpy plaid tops that accentuate their chests. In case you didn't catch the joke, the chain's logo is an image of two pointy, snow-capped mountains. And the sports bar doesn't stop there: It promises "scenic views."

Every year, the Los Angeles-based Step Up Women's Network provides mentoring opportunities to more than 500 high school girls from underserved communities in Chicago, L.A. and New York. When the girls enter 9th grade, each is asked to devote 100 hours each year for 4 years to after-school programs. Some of these include confidence-building exercises, college tours and one-on-one time with working women.

Here at FletcherPR, we like to celebrate women and it's nice when others do the same. For today's post, we wanted to share this fabulous list of reasons why being a woman is awesome (originally posted at Glamour magazine's Conversation blog).

For this edition of Her Voice, She's SO Empowered, we wanted to turn the spotlight on Jeanne Robertson, who happens to be performing for a special Rotary fundraiser event in Knoxville on June 15th. Jeanne, a former Miss North Carolina, is a professional speaker who specializes in hilarious humor based on her life experiences. She speaks to thousands of people each year, using her positive, funny style to illustrate that a sense of humor can be a strategy for success.