Eek! We have yet another sign that the economy is going downhill. The Gap corporation has taken a decision to cut costs, meaning the advertising budget is getting slashed. You know it's bad when they decide to scale down those awesome, high budget Old Navy ads.

The Gap will not be going ahead with it's spring campaign as planned. The CFO of the company, Sabrina Williams has said, "The primary focus of spring marketing for the namesake division will be print and in-store efforts for the retailer's footwear collaboration with designer Pierre Hardy, due out in March."

The reason behind all these cost cuts is simple. Profits are down. Gap finished the month of Feb. about 5% down from where it was at this time last year. Old Navy profits also decreased by 5%. The only store in the family that has posted gains is Banana Republic, coming in at a 2% increase.

I'm all for putting their ad dollars to better use. I mean just look at this commercial! If they pay me ten bucks I'll come up with something more creative than this. Hey, at least they have a good song playing in the background.



Via BrandWeek.