Monday, February 29, 2016

Goodbye Lands End

Dear Lands End:

I have bought clothes from you for forty years. A lot of clothes over time. Gifts for people, clothes for my kids, clothes for me. Get it? A LOT OF CLOTHES. Given your response to pressure from conservative groups and pulling your ad campaign featuring Gloria Steinem, I've decided to stop buying clothes from you. I realize that this is a form of my own financial guerilla terrorism, but this is the only tactic I have at my disposal to let you know that this is not cool. I suppose that you feel you can't win this war of political correctness and by pulling her it is probably the least of all evils. But, you know, Land's End, you siding with the people who are loud but they are not great in number. They are bigoted, they hate equal rights for women. You sell far more clothes for women than you do for men in your company. Think about that. You haven't replaced Ms. Steinem with anyone else who might be an excellent representative for the older women you're trying to court. You didn't consider that the women that she might appeal to (older women like me) would feel totally and justifiably dissed at your decision to pull her ad campaign. You probably feel you've waded into a mine field in this polarized society. Tough. You've just lost a valuable customer.

Claire M. Johnson