Jcpenney - Fair And Square - Hypocrites?

[heydude]

Has anyone noticed Jcpenney's new ad compaign / new "PR" move?

They are putting out ads that make fun of all those crazy sales they used to have and many other competitors still have. Waking up at 6am, sale ending before you can get it, exclusions, coupons, return policies etc. all that have a "catch." They are doing away with all the "gimmicks" and just offering every day low prices "fair and square."

Although, they are even unable to hold to their own self-created new standard by rolling out something called "best price friday" where things are actually on sale and only good on friday or something.

Anyways, i always find it so interesting when the system admits wrong doing for the sole purpose of self-serving. In this case, admitting that the sales are gimmicks and that they are going to be "fair" to use and roll out a new system, which will of course hopefully get more sales for themselves/new image/more new customers/people checking them out again that may have left them.

The media will not allow the buy nothing people to buy an ad on national tv to not buy anything but they will allow people that are selling things to point out flaws in the system. It is crazy.

[redfox]

Yes, it certainly is crazy!

[CathyA]

There is so much craziness everywhere in the consumer world. Its so hard to trust anything you hear. :(

[Float On]

I absolutely hated their first commercials when they started the "Square" program. The ones with all the screams.
I actually went into JCP the other day (40 miles away) for the first time in maybe 4 years. It did seem like their prices were better.
I'm not sure exactly how my mom will handle it, she was always so excited about her handful of JCP coupons/special shopping hours/etc...

[CathyA]

They got rid of the blue jeans that I had bought for over 20 years there. Not sure I'll ever go back. haha

[ctg492]

JCP was my go to store for Levis and casual clothes, bedding. I can only speak about the small little store we have here. It kinda feels like a discount store now, with no selection. I say it is a matter of time before it rolls over like Sears did in our area. I no long go to JCP, but since I only shopped there two -three times a year they won't miss me.

[heydude]

where do u go instead?

i bought an expensive bed blanket from them and it is shoddy and slides down all the time. started to split now.

[CathyA]

I usually go to Kohls and Target.

[leslieann]

Don't think of the ad campaign as "admitting" anything. It is an application of a well-known principle in persuasion: if a person tells people something that they already know, as if admitting to fault, you are supposed to feel more positively toward the person. There is nothing in advertising that is about admitting, or about truth telling, or about philosophy. Everything in advertising is about getting customers to spend their money on the product. I have found that accepting that makes me able to just let advertising slide off me....I don't have any expectations and so none are dashed.

Also, I view virtually all communications from businesses as advertising. So when a large company "sponsors" the local team, it is advertising. When the kids on the baseball field have the insurance company's logo on their shirts, it is advertising. When a well known fast food company creates "educational" materials about nutrition and makes them available for free to elementary schools, yep, it is advertising. You bet they expense it that way, and you bet that it works or they wouldn't do it.

Hmm, and I thought I no longer had a "hot button" about advertising. Back to the drawing board......

[sweetana3]

leslieann, I totally agree with you. Once I made that decision, a lot in the media (of all types) stopped affecting me. Even when a company says buy this product and we will donate a % to a charity, it is only a way to have the customer provide money for the donation they were always going to make and the company taking credit for it. Cynical I know. But best to be skeptical until research done.

[catherine]

JC Penney may be a little more transparent in their "persuasion tactics" but they're certainly not alone. It's a science and a very expensive process convincing consumers it's their idea to buy something. leslieann--you are so right--corporations get up in the morning to make money, not extend goodwill or charity.

If I could tell you conversations I've been privy to in the back rooms of market research facilities.....

One example: I've been doing a research project with a company that manufacturers medication for a mental illness. So we went to psychs to find out what the unmet needs are. The company wants to do something out of the box.

So the psychs said, well, the mental health centers are so poorly equipped--it would be great for the company to buy ping-pong tables or something like that. So I told my colleague we should recommend buying ping-pong tables for mental health centers across the country. He shot me down. "They're not going to do that." So I asked him why. "There's no direct payoff."

"But," I argued, "It used to be that the sales reps would take doctors out to resorts and expensive dinners, and now they're not allowed to do that. So why can't they take that money they're not spending on the doctors and put it towards a gesture that will help the patients and promote goodwill?"

"Because it's too hard to prove the return on investment." he said.

Market research is fun but sometimes it doesn't feel like "right livelihood." Oh well.

[JaneV2.0]

I never shop at JC Penney (now JCP and I hate their new ugly logo), but now with an exclusive Liz Claiborne deal and Ellen Degeneres (much to the Million Moms' disgust), I may check them out. If I ever go to a mall...

[Sissy]

I don't shop at Penny's, but I did receive a catalog in the mail. It was a slick piece of advertising. Thick pages, few articles per page. The point was to send you to the computer to see what else they have.