Random Thoughts on a Tuesday Evening
I walked past a Bennetton store in a New Jersey mall the other day and it took me back to a place and time, long before I ever imagined that I’d make a career in marketing, when I got a firsthand taste of how NOT to treat a customer.
I was a teenager and a Bennetton store had just opened in my local mall. Çurious, I walked inside (wearing tattered jeans and my long curly hair probably wild – it was the 70s, after all). The moment I reached my hand out to touch a carefully folded sweater on a shelf, an imperious saleswoman walked up to me, effectively blocked my path and said “Can I help you with something?”
I understood from her tone that I was not welcome to touch the merchandise, and I mumbled something incomprehensible, shrank from her in embarrassment and quickly exited the store.
That was more than 30 years ago…and I have NEVER stepped inside a Bennetton store since.
Since that time, Benetton has gained national attention as a socially responsible company, and pushed the envelope with provocative advertising campaigns featuring a person with AIDS at the moment of his death, and a black baby nursing at a white woman's breast.
But they never swayed me.
Today, Bloomberg News ran a story about how an Indian tribe in Patagonia is accusing the company of trying to buy the tribe's gratitude and allegiance with 30 acres of land for 40,000 Indians.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=a_hYZMzfhZd8&refer=news_index
I don't know what the real story is there, but I do know that today I am the kind of executive woman with disposable income that Benetton would love to have shop in their stores, and I was tempted the other day by an attractive children’s clothing display, but I just couldn’t walk in. That one bad experience cost Benetton this customer back in 1977 and they’ll never get her back.
I was a teenager and a Bennetton store had just opened in my local mall. Çurious, I walked inside (wearing tattered jeans and my long curly hair probably wild – it was the 70s, after all). The moment I reached my hand out to touch a carefully folded sweater on a shelf, an imperious saleswoman walked up to me, effectively blocked my path and said “Can I help you with something?”
I understood from her tone that I was not welcome to touch the merchandise, and I mumbled something incomprehensible, shrank from her in embarrassment and quickly exited the store.
That was more than 30 years ago…and I have NEVER stepped inside a Bennetton store since.
Since that time, Benetton has gained national attention as a socially responsible company, and pushed the envelope with provocative advertising campaigns featuring a person with AIDS at the moment of his death, and a black baby nursing at a white woman's breast.
But they never swayed me.
Today, Bloomberg News ran a story about how an Indian tribe in Patagonia is accusing the company of trying to buy the tribe's gratitude and allegiance with 30 acres of land for 40,000 Indians.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000086&sid=a_hYZMzfhZd8&refer=news_index
I don't know what the real story is there, but I do know that today I am the kind of executive woman with disposable income that Benetton would love to have shop in their stores, and I was tempted the other day by an attractive children’s clothing display, but I just couldn’t walk in. That one bad experience cost Benetton this customer back in 1977 and they’ll never get her back.
posted by workinmom at 10:45 PM
3 Comments:
Oh, I hated Benetton when they were cool (well, at least when they were cool in my high school, back in the early 80s). Yes because of the snotty sales people (although one of my best friends ended up working there too), but also because they were totally unattainable for my working class self. And like you, I've never been back, although I'm now more than able to afford their clothes.
Thanks for confirming my memories of Bennetton back in the day.
Yeah, I couldn't afford them back then, either, but thought I'd at least be able to look. Sheesh.
It's a wonder they're still in business....
This is how I was raised. When a store (or any business) doesn't treat you well then they don't deserve your business. My mom taught me NOT to shop their again (she usually gave them two chances and that was it). Then she tells everyone she knows not to shop their either. We can list numerous stores (and one airline) that screwed with her and are now out of business. And that was a while a go when there wasn't as much retial to chose from. With all the competition, there is no reason to shop somewhere that doesn't deserve your business. Good for you for sticking up for yourself with your most powerful weapon - your pocketbook - and for teaching your girls the same.
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