Merry-Go-Round Puts a New Spin on Ad Campaign

JOPPA, Md. —  Merry-Go-Round Enterprises is banking on the most primal of emotions to spur its turnaround.

The flashy clothing retailer, now reorganizing in bankruptcy court, has unveiled a sexy new ad campaign aimed at the libido of its young customers.

“Introducing the newest clothes for men and women from the Merry-Go-Round. Clothes as fun to take off as they are to put on,” says a voice-over for the risque commercial targeted at 18- to 24-year-olds.

The 30-second spot, produced by Ohio-based Ron Foth Advertising, features a steamy young couple cavorting around an apartment, pulling at each other’s clothes. It began airing on MTV, VH-1 and the E! cable networks last week.

“Saturating these networks . . . acknowledges the music and entertainment culture that defines fashion for the ‘MTV Generation,’ ” the company said in a written statement last week.

Many analysts blamed the company’s financial problems and its January bankruptcy filing on the fact that it fell out of step with its client base of teen-agers and young adults and thus made poor fashion choices.

Merry-Go-Round lost $45.6 million last year, largely because of a $35.1-million write-off to clear its inventory of unfashionable clothes.

The ad campaign “is a very good move. Merry-Go-Round has taken hard hits from a PR standpoint,” said Roger Gray, president of Gray Kirk-Van Sant Advertising in Baltimore.

“Young people feel they have their own identity to deal with. It’s an effective way of saying ‘This is for you.’ ”

“Merry-Go-Round is not going to put its head in the sand through the Chapter 11 proceedings,” said Leonard (Boogie) Weinglass, the company’s pony-tailed chairman and chief executive officer. “We plan to market our way back to profitability.”

Should the commercial prove successful, company officials say, they will consider similar campaigns for other divisions of the company. Merry-Go-Round also owns the Dejaiz and Chess King retail chains.