Armani Pulls Out 'The New York Times' Ads
Italian fashion emperor Giorgio Armani cancelled all the ad placement orders with The New York Times after the newspaper had published a not-so-flattering review of his spring-summer 2005 collection.
"The creative possibilities of Italian fashion were once clearly synonymous with the name of Giorgio Armani," read the review published July 4th . "When exactly, one wonders, did that stop being the case? It is not so much that talk about corporate succession has damaged the image as the designer approaches 70. It is not that people have forgotten Mr Armani's profound contributions to fashion design. It is that shows like the one Mr Armani presented this week seem errant, confounding and stuck in a vision of an unrecognisable world."
In response the designer has taken out a full-page spread illustrating the more favourable reviews, and has refused to advertise again until the next review of his collection.
"It is correct that the Armani Group has removed the New York Times newspaper (not the New York Times Magazine) from its advertising plan," said a spokesperson for the company. "This decision has been taken as a result of the existence of a persistent and significant philosophical difference with the newspaper's fashion desk. We have no other comment to make at this time."
The designer has previously refused to advertise in the US Vogue claiming that it didn't give him enough editorial support.
7 August 2004
