posted 01 June 2005 10:21 AM
I happened on this particularly galling example of smarmy corporate prose on the Cotton Ginny website: http://www.cottonginny.ca/faqs.htm - a website that provides almost no customer information, in addition to the questions of internet or catalogue shopping they are obviously often asked for.
Their lack of service is all for our good, after all...
From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002
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kuri
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4202
posted 01 June 2005 10:30 AM
Yes, because good consumers know that shopping is a "multi-sensuous experience".
From: an employer more progressive than rabble.ca | Registered: Jun 2003
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paxamillion
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2836
posted 01 June 2005 10:31 AM
I think the point (and I disagree with it) is to try to drive traffic to stores and away from the site.
From: the process of recovery | Registered: Jul 2002
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lagatta
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2534
posted 01 June 2005 10:37 AM
Yes, pax, but it is a silly point as they don't have stores everywhere - there are none in Québec for example (the closest is Ottawa). And obviously there will always be towns that don't have a branch of a given chain of stores. I know several people who have to make a trip into Montréal, Ottawa, Québec etc (and this is obviously the case elsewhere) to get what they are looking for.
In my case it is trousers that fit (larger in bum than waist) - I don't need a "multi-sensuous experience"....
I'm sure babblers have seen lots of other examples. The campaign the tobacco companies launches to hook women (another thread today) had painful prose indeed...
From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002
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Melsky
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4748
posted 01 June 2005 10:38 AM
That is patronizing. I have one of their shirts and I'm glad I bought it in a thrift store.
I have that same problem with my waist being smaller in proportion to the rest of me. Oddly I find men's pants fit me much better, despite the fact that I have a very womanly figure. The waist is always too big but they seem to stay up ok.
posted 01 June 2005 10:54 AM
If I were writing the blurb, I'd simply state "We are sorry that we are unable to offer internet or catalogue service at this time. Please consult our website for the closest outlet to you, where it will be a pleasure to serve you". (And leave open-ended the possibility of improving the site later on). I don't think such patronising prose actually attracts customers.
Melsky, I've seen lots of similar examples from other stores and chains...
From: Se non ora, quando? | Registered: Apr 2002
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Hinterland
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4014
posted 01 June 2005 11:19 AM
These are the laws of public relations, to which most PR and marketing people subscribe:
1. Above everything else, Preserve your Career. 2. Preserve the completely abstract concept of the "brand" of the company, as negative images and commentary have direct consequences with relation to law number 1. 3. Only worry about what the company is selling in terms of its relation to the bottom line. A decline in sales does not relate to the product being sold in any meaningful way. The decline itself is the issue to be addressed, and all strategies designed to reverse such declines, whether product-related or not, are valid. 4. A lot of people are easily fooled, not because they are stupid, but because their first instinct is not to suspect they're being lied to. Never, ever forget this.
posted 01 June 2005 11:31 AM
Lagatta, from experience I can tell you that your blurb was pretty much the one that the writer came up with. Then the marketing department got ahold of it, applied the "never use 1 word when 40 will fit" rule in combination with the "turn negatives into positives" mantra they have learned at Ivey or wherever it was they learned to be asisnine wastes of space, and the result is on your computer screen -hideously designed I might add, much like the majority of the clothes they offer.
The retailer that figures out that plus size women are as cool as everybody else is going to make a lot of money. Cotton Ginny is clearly not that company.
quote:Originally posted by Hinterland: 3. Only worry about what the company is selling in terms of its relation to the bottom line. A decline in sales does not relate to the product being sold in any meaningful way. The decline itself is the issue to be addressed, and all strategies designed to reverse such declines, whether product-related or not, are valid.
that's a very good point, hinterland. i had never thought of that, and it's so true. corporations don't worry about the quality of their products; they will use any advertising tactic they can to sell anything just to rake in cash.
From: under a bridge with a laptop | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 01 June 2005 10:21 AM
