Charlie told Rainman (Raymond) and I am telling you!
Kmart! (Sucks)
The problems with the company are obvious, don’t add insult to injury by once again adding Kate Gosselin, ’cause trust me, she ain’t gonna help!
No how, no way!
FEEL FREE TO WRITE THEM AND TELL THEM YOURSELVES:
TOM AIELLO
Sears Holdings
(847) 286-7387
TAIELL1@searshc.com
Kmart considers bringing back Kate Gosselin as spokeswoman
Following her successful run as a spokeswoman for its holiday layaway plan, Kmart is considering bringing back Kate Gosselin to star in more ads, according to a company rep. The polarizing star of Jon & Kate Plus 8 has been attacked by critics who claim she is exploiting her children for fame and fortune. Kmart rep Tom Aiello says, “She did a good job communicating the layaway program. We’re looking to carry that relationship into late spring, but nothing is concrete.” He says Kmart has received “positive feedback” on Kate, but “we’re going to be smart as we move ahead. We’ll look and see if there is a change in opinion.”
—Posted by Kenneth Hein
(THANKS Fxfanatic!)
No Problem! I was looking for the other story and this jumped out at me. I emailed Kmart. I just don’t understand why all these big companies are throwing money and products at them? All they did was have children?
It’s not rocket science . . . oh wait, it WAS science.
Still don’t know why she keeps bringing Jesus into this when it was doctors, test tubes and an irresponsible uterus.
And the Jump in the Kmart layaway popularity couldn’t have anything to do with the current financial issues, and the fact that Kmart is like the ONLY place that sells children’s toys, clothes etc that offers a layaway program. I had already been planning on doing Christmas on layaway this year, it really stuck in my craw that they had Kate doing the promotions for it.
fxfantatic~
Well thank you for placing it here, it is appreciated. Kmart has been in trouble for years, was bankrupt and bought by Sears. The National Labor Committee has alleged on more than one occasion that they source from sweat shops, sweat shops known to use child labor (not unlike the GAP, which I blogged about months ago). I would not imagine that being connected to child exploitation is what the company needs right now. It is also a shining example of how corporations either don’t vet their potential spokespeople, or do and don’t give a flying F as long as there is money to be made.
Amber~
Two words:
Kmart Sucks.
Twelve words: They suck more for using Kate Gosselin as their spokesperson at Christmas.
Fifteen words: They are the suckiest for considering a rehire of the Queen of Greed for spring.
The End.
(Is near!)
With them being cautious it seems like they are testing the waters where Kate’s name is concerned. I will be sending my opinion in to them right away. WTF is so polarizing about this dreadfull woman? The K-Mart team must not watch Kate in action or they would have run the other way with this idea.
lisak~
Yep. It should be interesting to see how this plays out. I call that they do not use her. They would be fools to, particularly in this economy. Wait until the get all the letters.
At least the Kmart marketing director can’t claim that he has not received any, like the marketing director of P&G. And I gotta hand it to this columnist Kenneth Hein from Brandweek, he sounds as if he is on to the Greedslins, and he isn’t letting up. I am sure that there will be more from him in the near future.
SCORE!
So she gets voted Worst Spokesperson Ever, and K-Mart wants to re-do her contract? R-i-i-g-h-t!
Maggie~
I am not so positive that Kmart’s marketing director was aware of Brandweek columnist, Kenneth Hein’s articles about her.
They are now!
And all that takes is a little letter writing! Which has been working pretty well!
The troll Maggie. Where is nomoredrama these days?
OMG, I didn’t know they were considering bringing her back. I will email the above ASAP!
Kate Gosselin is the blue light special from HELL. Do you think they used KATE because she is the BIG-K???
Well, I used to shop at K-Mart but won’t be now!!!
I don’t think its very believeable anyway that Kate would
shop at K-Mart. I don’t think people that have million dollars homes shope there. They go to Nordstorms and Macys. HaHA. Maybe they used the layaway so Jon could have money to buy his Utah condo?
If the ‘Gospel According to’ Kate is everything is God’s plan, it was His plan for her not to have children.
Ooooopss. Guess she didn’t get the memo.
Or stone tablet.
I wonder how Kmart’s Martha thinks of the new Martha wannabe? Well, she’s touting layaway, so I doubt the real Martha would even deign to notice.
Doesn’t Kenneth Hein write for BRANDFREAK???
Fxfanatic~
Yes. Brandfreak is a part of the Brandweek site I believe.
Actually, I think Brandfreak is independent from Brandweek.
On second thought (and investigations), I guess they are related.
Nevermind .. . . . .
Thanks for this post and this e-mail address. I have written them regarding the Queen of Greed representing their company and told them how I, among many others, will be taking our business from K-Mart and from Sears to other stores if they chose to continue their association with Katie Irene.
I’d just like to say thank you Moon. You go to a lot of trouble to keep track of Kate for us and keep us informed. I know I can always count on you. Thanks.
Immediately received a response from “Tom” at the address above who said they review all celebrities before making any deal with them to represent K-Mart or Sears and that my statement would be considered. I pulled no punches in telling him what I thought, so I guess we’ll see. Hopefully everyone here will write.
My email was sent. I wanted you all to know that Sears has been well respected for their treatment of military reservists’ called to active duty. Since my son is active duty and has just retured from his second tour in Iraq that touched me. I have heard they have worked to continue benefits and really gone beyond whats required. It might not be my place to ask but I wanted to ask if I may that if we send them an email please include a word of thanks to them as well. They do seem to have some excellent employee relation ethics in place. I am speaking just about Sears the parent company, I’m not reallyup on Kmart. I’m sure they are banking on Kates recent exposure and not looking ahead. Just my opinion.
Also I have posted as nc resident on the GDNNOP forum. Just so you all know I have two names I have used in my three months of blogging. Nina and Moon have my email and can verify I do not have 30 screen names and post one way and answer myself in another like I have seem some do.
took 15 minutes and I received a response maybe it will help he seemed very pleasant.
I think Sears now owns Kmart.
I prefer Target.
Search for Truth~
I have not checked my other email from which I wrote them, but will.
In the meantime, would you care to share their reply with us? Is it a common form letter?
Search for truth~
Interesting information on Sears’ support of the military. That is a good thing, and yes, any one that writes further, it is always a nice idea to praise a company for the good that it has done.
There really isn’t any need to explain your blogging names, Search. It is a common practice I have found, that people have different names for different blogs/forums. I pretty much always use Bohemianmoon, but on my Cafe Mom Groups I am under another name, though my blog link is in my signature, so every knows it is me, anyway. Regardless, I do not feel that you owe anyone any explanation.
Virginia~
Excellent, and thank you!
Here’s the reply I received: “Before we enter into a relationship with any celebrity, we first make sure that there is a genuine connection to our customers. I’m sure we will go through this diligence before we do anything with Kate or any other celebrity. We have not decided to do anything further with Kate, so I appreciate your thoughts.”
I can’t imagine Kate having any connection to their customers so let’s hope they don’t use her as a spokesperson.
Chrissy~
I just checked and I received the same reply letter. I am good with that. I do hope a lot of people are writing in.
Thanks for placing your reply here, it is appreciate!
Moon,
Thanks for the good laugh, with the picture of the guys head up his ass. Very funny!
I can’t believe that someone like K-Mart would want Kate for a spokewoman. K-Mart is having a hard enough time keeping it’s head above water to begin with. By picking Kate as a spokewoman, would make K-Mart only sink faster.
Here in Tampa, they have closed several K-Marts. We have plenty of Targets and Wal-Marts all over the place. But, if you want to find a K-Mart, it’s a far drive.
I, too, am going to email K-Mart and Sears. I will give them a piece of my mind.
I want you to know Moon, that I just love your site here. It is the best. Keep up the great work that you do.
Well, time for me to go and pick strawberries from my garden.
I received a response from Mr. Aiello. I’m glad he takes this seriously.
“Thank you for your thoughts.
As with Kate as well as all celebrity partnerships, we do a strong
review process prior to working with them. I appreciate your thoughts
and we will consider them moving forward.
Thank you,
Tom”
Patty Ann~
OMG! Picking strawberries from your garden! OMG I am feeling a bit envious! You obviously live in the south, unless we are talking greenhouses here. I am sitting in a drafty old house with below zero temperatures outside, mapping out my garden foe this season. As most of my readers know, I am still a novice gardener. Last year was my first attempt at small scale gardening. I needed to start small as I had no idea what I was really doing. My plot was 23 feet by 40 feet. I companion planted and three sister planted my corn, squash and pole beans. Totally organic (!). I did pretty well for the most part and it was a major learning curve, a lot of work, but oh so magical! I LOVE IT!
What else do you grow? And what is the secret to growing strawberries? I do want to give them a try this season.
Coolbeans1~
Excellent!
So what is your gut feeling? Do you think that they are going to can their plans or move ahead with her anyway?
I hope so Moon. I told him I saw her layaway interview on a local talk show a few months ago and she seemed less than thrilled, to the point of boredom. I also threatened to quit shopping at Kmart if they continue to use her as a spokesperson. I wonder if he saw the interview? I may have to email him back about that.
I hope people keep writing to him. Thank you for letting us know who to write to. I wrote to P&G the other day, but not even a canned response so far.
I got what coolbeans1 has gotten so the wording Chrissy has We have not decided to do anything further with Kate, so I appreciate your thoughts.” was not included in mine. To me it sounds like they have not decided one way or the other. You never know now days, I remember Tom Cruise and his couch dance and the Matt Lauer interview was it that set his career on the back burner. Public opinion does matter.
Coolbeans1~
Yeah, P&G are slow in responses, that is for sure. I am sure that they are none to pleased with Kenneth Hein either right about now!
This probably isn’t the place for this dab of info – By clicking on the Park City site – you have another topix-park city for the latest
poop on j and friends. Already has 122 comments, 7 pages.
Winds from the southwest is now bringing warmer teps and sunshine to the southern plains.
The seed catalogs are arriving – for the back to the land people,
“Homesteading” by Patricia Crawford is excellent. 1975.
Collier Books, division of MacMillan Publishing. Excellent.
Used it twenty years at the Lake of the Ozarks, MO.
fxfanatic~
Yes, Sears bought Kmart a couple to a few years ago when Kmart was in bankruptcy, or close to it. They have been trying to save it since. Kmart has also been in the heat with the Labor Commission regarding using sweatshop labor in the products they source.
Every Kmart that I have been in in years past has been dirty and dark. Nothing that fosters shopping.
The Kmart in Tennessee on the St. Jude’s show looked bright and clean, though, so I am assuming that they are trying to rehaul their stores. Having Kate Gosselin as a spokesperson just makes them dirty again, IMO.
Dirtydisher~
Thanks, and as always thanks for being a part of Musings!
Dirtydisher has a really bitingly funny blog on pop culture – http//thedirtydisher.blogspot.com. Everyone check it out if you haven’t read it.
Email sent, answer received within 5 minutes of sending it, same answer as above, but I don’t think it’s automatic, I think he’s pasting it though, bet he’s getting slammed!
Lynnie
syl~
Stone tablet, lol! Too funny
X GDNNOP-er~
No, I do believe that they bought the Utah condo from Kate’s diligent coupon clipping
Deja Moo~
“Blue Light Special from hell”….BWAHAAAHHAAAAA!
Truer words never spoke!
Poor Tom Aiello,
I emailed him over an hour ago and it took him that long to get back to me. His mailbox must be full.
ha ha.
Lynnie~
Oh good lord I hope not. Horses are very expensive and take a lot of effort to upkeep, not to mention the costs of riding lessons, etc. Can you imagine?
I sent my e-mail off this morning and told them I would no longer shop at K-Mart if she was connected to it in any way.
In my last comment it was suppose to say ‘wtf is so GREAT about this dreadfull woman’, it was late when I wrote that one.
As stated before me (#2 Amber), the fact K-Mart’s layaway was successful had nothing to do with Kate and everything to to with the state of the economy. I have not, nor will I ever shop at a K-Mart (or WalMart either for that matter) as I am a loyal Target customer. That said, I think I am wearing out my welcome: Every time I go there I visit the Book Dept. and turn all of the copies of the Gosselin book upside down and backwards!
I didn’t realize Kate did a great job explaining layaway!!!??!! I may be stating my age, but i remember my mom using layaway all the time, seems like a no brainer to me. Maybe its just me, but I think that’s hysterical! And how they keep refering to Kate as a “celebrity”, they forgot the “self-made” in front of it! Thanks Moom for all the info you supply!
Susan~
I never thought of that, but next time I see ‘the book’ I am going to do that to. That certainly makes a statment.
joey~
Yep, my mum used lay away as well. It was a common service when I was growing up.
Celebrity? Perhaps the Z-list, lol, though I would imagine Mrs. Narcissist and the mental-development-level- of- a- 13- year- old-and-acts-it Mr. are thinking much higher than that. What fools they are!
I got the abbreviated copy and pasted answer as well – I couldn’t help and replied back with
“Mr. Aiello,
Thank you for your reply. I do want to point out that if “a strong review process” had truly been done on Kate Gosselin, surely the powers that be would have realized that her main form of income is derived from showing her children in what should be private moments and in various forms of undress. Thank you again. “
justaminute~
I would definitely send that for sure!
Let us know if he writes back!
lisak~
I am just hoping that by doing so it doesn’t create more work for the employees of the store, you know?
Moon,
I have strawberries growing in my garden which is 35 feet by 30 feet. My garden is also organic. In the summer, I sometimes have trouble with bugs, and use something called, Safer Brand Insect Killing Soap. It’s compliant for use in organic gardening. I live in Tampa, Florida, which is on the west coast of Florida. The bugs in the winter are not as bad as in the summer. We grow all kinds of veggies. Corn, squash, (yellow and green) beans, carrots, green peppers and brussel sprouts. I also have some herbs gowing. But my favorite is strawberries. There is nothing better, than eating a fresh picked strawberry. I use composted rabbit manure for my garden. Rabbit manure is high in Nitrogen. I have seven rabbits, that provide plenty of manure. They are all French-Lops, so they are big.
Every year, at the end of February, we have an event here in Florida called the Florida Strawberry Festival. It is held in Plant City, Florida. It has everything, that you can think of, that has to do with strawberries. It is so much fun. You can look on the internet for information about it.
Patty Ann~
I know Florida well, South Florida anyway. I lived in Fort Lauderdale/Broward County for 15.5 years. Though I did have a house there, I never had the room to garden beyond container gardening.
I used compost tea for some of my garden this year. The companion planting really seemed to work, in addition to marigold flowers and other flowers companioned (is that a word?) to help with the insect issue. For bunnies and deer and other critters, I used a natural product called Liquid Fence around the perimeter of the garden instead of investing in a fence, which really worked as a deterrent. That and taking the dogs to urinate close to the garden, helps as a deterrent as well.
I also used a organic mushroom compost which worked well.
Do you make jams, etc?
This year will really be my first year canning, etc, and I am pretty excited at the prospect. We have a number of pick your own fruit farms here as well which we will frequent this summer/fall. This year I am also starting our small apple orchard, but using dwarf apple trees. I do want to add pear trees and a few cherry trees as the years progress, but obviously it takes time for the trees to mature to the point of producing fruit. I am really working towards some self sufficiency on the veggie/fruit front. I do doubt that I will ever raise animals to kill, I just don’t have it in me. If I had been raised to, I probably would be now, as it would come naturally…….I am just not too sure that I can. We are still thinking on the chicken for eggs front. No decisions yet.
I will be launching my second blog soon wherein I talk about living life creatively and working towards a greener/ more self sufficient existence. I will be showing my art there as well, and the “softer side” of Moon, lol. It is not up yet, but it the URL is http://croneonthehill.com, and the name of the blog is “Becoming a Country Crone” (and yes, I live on a hill, lol), so I will let you know when it is up and we can dish about gardening and you can lend your expertise to this novice!
Moon, thanks so much for posting this information. I’ve sent my E-mail, made my points very respectfully. I hope the volume of messages they receive will make them reconsider this very bad idea.
Gator~
I do too! Let us know if you get a reply. Although it is the weekend now, earlier Tom seemed to be sending his form letter at a very quick pace.
Reading back, I realize my response from Mr. Aiello was
“As with Kate as well as all celebrity partnerships, we do a strong review process prior to working with them. I appreciate your thoughts and we will consider them moving forward. ”
Cool. He knows her by name and he’s probably really sick of her by now.
fxfanatic~
One can only hope!
Moon,
Bookmarked your url.
Looking forward to it!
Big Boo on Mr. Aiello.
Try e-mailing him “Mr. Aiello please remove your head from your ass.”
You will still receive the
“As with Kate as well as all celebrity partnerships, we do a strong review process prior to working with them. I appreciate your thoughts and we will consider them moving forward. ”
My reply to this was
Mr. Aiello,
Thank you for your reply. I do want to point out that if “a strong review proces” had truly been done on Kate Gosselin, surely the powers that be would have realized that her main form of income is derived from showing her children in what should be private moments and in various forms of undress. Thank you again.
and his response??
“As with Kate as well as all celebrity partnerships, we do a strong review process prior to working with them. I appreciate your thoughts and we will consider them moving forward. ”
justaminute~
Yep, I wrote back as well and got the same canned response, but lets us hope that he continues to be inundated at least.
Welcome, Search for Truth. I think you’ll like it here.
To echo MET:
Yes, welcome Search for Truth.
Have enjoyed watching your attempt at swimming upstream at another blog but think you’ll find a more cerebral pool over here at Moon’s place.
Thanks everyone, upstream, yeah just a tad, not as in tadpole though since you mentioned pool LOL. I made a mistake from the start, I thought I had all of this new information, much of which, had already been seen for months, and discussed ad nauseum, I was quick to learn. I think one thing is safe to say now however, J&K must be receiving a hefty sum for these episodes. I’m doing some math here and figure 60 episodes x $20,000 barely pays for the new home. Pretty good guess that $5000. is not a reasonable estimate. I do sleep better at night knowing it’s all for the kids <<< insert eye roll.
I just hope this pool has a shallow end because I’m not that deep intellectually, so I’ve been told. Nearly impossible to understand as well, guess those English lessons from Rosetta Stone need to be returned LOL.
Since I can snark here a bit I want to let Jon know since your kids paid for those hair plugs, the least you could do is to stop wearing those friggin hats and advertise them. That is how it works right? You only blur out those things that do not pay you to advertise.
Search for truth~
I have never had a problem with understanding your posts/thoughts/insights. You are an intelligent poster and that shows, IMO. So no need to seek a refund from Rosetta Stone, lol (too funny, English lessons from Rosetta Stone!), but perhaps you could donate them to Ma and Pa Gosselin. Not only do the LOVE donations, they are in desperate need of English lessons!
A win-win all around!
Patty Ann,
I took am a Tampanite.
Sadly enough, I tried that Moon, and they are only excepting cash now or gift cards hehe. I think I might try writing an urban dictionary of Kateisms’, now that would sell.
Another research project I’m working on is the Pro-Gosselin debate tactics. The following seem to be their methods or actions.
1.) Deny or demand proof, in the absence of concrete proof they claim victory.
2.) When proof exists, or materializes, even through Jon and Kates quotes, defend J&K’s actions or rationalize them or discuss the flaws of mankind. Or discuss their punctuation.
3.) Last course of action is to attack the opponent or discredit them personally, or to continually ask them what their motivation is.
Good morning Moon,
Just removed myself from Cafe Mom’s “Where’s Aunt Jodi?” blog.
It reached the point where I was CRAVING INTELLIGENT snark and discourse, pro and con like I get here.
The final straw for today’s action was the freedom accorded to bloggers to insult my state, but when I politely responded that I always viewed myself as an American first, then by my region (silly me) I was taken to task by a reader and (very) nastily by the admin.
Wow. No more tacky hypocritical sites for me.
Just Moon and GWOP.
Substance with a purpose and sense of humor. Not childish nonsense.
There’s no place like home….there’s no place like home…..
PS. I LOVE NY, but I LOVE AMERICA FIRST. There I said it and shall say it again and again! Loudly and proudly!!! LOL.
I always understood you, Search. But when others are looking for points of disagreement and nits to pick, well, sometimes you just filled the bill.
You just wouldn’t drink that damn Kool-Aid, now would you?
I liked how you always came back, didn’t get as nasty as some of the regulars and tried to make a point. You did not get dismissive and rude as the hosts and regulars did.
Well, this morning I received the same canned response from Tom Aiello as others, that begins, “Thank you for your thoughts. As with Kate as well as all celebrity partnerships…” At least he’s acknowledging the messages and hopefully gives at least some consideration to their content.
You can be sure they are counting the number of responses and extrapolating. Major companies use formulas to calculate the true number they think is related to complaints/comments. They realize not everyone will take the time to respond to a problem, so 10 responses, for instance, could mean 50 users/buyers have the same issue.
What would skew things, I think, is the tone of the e-mail or letter. The more professional and neutral the complaint, the more seriously it will be taken.
Met, I honestly tried and will continue to try to show everyone respect. I feel that the J&K debate should never get to the point that we all get sucked in to hatred, malice and distrust of each other and our motives. My biggest problem there was why does having an opinion have to follow with a motive.
The wacko’s are out in full force today in the comments section of the Breandfreak article. I don’t understand how these clueless people can think everything KON does is so great and Kate is a great spokesperson.
Well, Coolbeans, I think it’s because if Kate can rise to fame and fortune by virtue of birthing children and being moderately attractive, but really having no other discernable talent, then, by golly, anyone can become like her. Hope springs eternal and all that.
Yes, you too can get a cable show and become rich and famous.
Syl, I need to quite that site months ago.
This place is much better!
Wow coolbeans, I was just there and they seem to think there are MILLIONS more supporters of Kon than those few of us who object to the exploitation (because we are jealous and if we had a magic uterus we’d sell our kids too).
Millions? Reeeeeaaaaaalllllly???
I sent my email to Tom Aiello at Sears yesterday. I let him have it and laid everything out for him. I got the EXACT same canned response that you all got and reported here. I hope that those who have not yet emailed him will do so asap.
Moon,
Yes, I do make jam. Strawberry jam in fact. I also make orange and tangerine marmalade. I have orange, tangerine, lemon, lime and grapefruit trees in my back yard. As you might know, from living in Florida previously, this is the time of year when the citrus trees have ripe fruit. My tangerine tree produced more tangerines this year, then ever before, and I have lived here for thirty years. Jams and marmalade are really easy to make, and they are organic too.
I e-mailed somethime in the middle of the night–around 4AM–I received a response at 4:45 AM–Someone on CafeMOM said they sent a follow-up after receiving their canned response–2nd response said they would be contacting her in the future–I send a follow-up—Nothing yet–
carolsue~
Well I haven’t received anything either to the my response to the form letter. Let me know if you do and I will too, of course.
Patty Ann~
YUM! Sound delicious!
Hubs and I were at a craft show prior to Christmas and we bought a number of jams from a woman there. She made a delicious Jamison Whiskey Orange Marmalade with organic FLorida oranges. It was really good. Hubs, the Scotsman he is, loves orange marmalade and with the whiskey, well, lets just say the jar was gone within a few days.
Apparently she and her husband leave right after Christmas for a month in Florida and they ship back all of the organic citrus she uses to make different jams and marmalades.
I am looking forward to making my own. The first seasonal fruit here will be cherries and strawberries, I can’t wait!
Merette~
Did you send a follow-up to the canned reply? I did. I have not heard anything back yet though.
fxfanatic~
Yep, apparently millions as opposed to our paltry sum, lol.
Coolbeans1~
Indeed. I liked the one that posted the same thing about 20X. I guess they didn’t realize that it wasn’t the greatest representation for the fan base, lol.
It just makes them look as ridiculous (and stoopid) as they truly are.
Search for truth~
Exactly!
Again, glad you are here to contribute, you are appreciated!
What happened to all the comments over there?! I only see one comment.
Fxfanatic,
Thanks for your comment.
In fact I enjoy ALL your comments.
If I had know what a magical uterus could do, I’d never have had mine removed!
coolbeans1~
I have no idea, I saw that myself last night.
Click on the ‘Permalink’ under the article. That will bring up all posts-except for the latest which pretty much seem to defend the 2 idiots.
Tam
I sent an email to Tom, got the canned reply (in the middle of the night) and wrote back saying computer generated responses didn’t impress me and obviously they didn’t care about their customers opinions. Within a few hours I did receive a real response. It didn’t say much but I think he read what I wrote:
“I apologise if you think that.
My intent was to respond to you and let you know that we do care what our consumers think.
Respectfully,
Tom “
Library Lady~
Well, it does sound as if he did read it, or at least his secretary, lol, and that is a good thing. I haven’t received a reply to my reply yet, boo hoo hoo!
I think that it is making an impact, particularly with Kenneth Hein continuing to write about Kate Gosselin. What is published in Brandweek is read by businesses and their marketing people worldwide so you can be sure that we are not the only people reading it, and the responses to the articles as well.
on 18 Jan 2009 at 5:35 am#83 BohemianMoon
No, Moon, I did not followup to the canned reply from Tom Aiello. To tell you the truth, it did not even cross my mind to send one given the canned response we all got. I will send another one to see if the same auto reply gets generated. Oh – I just saw that #91 Library Lady got a real one after the canned one! I’ll send him another email right now and see what he says (if anything) and report back. Thanks for this great blog and all you do, Moon.
Moon, I replied to Tom Aiello’s canned reply as I said I would. I told him that I am sure he is receiving many emails on this profoundly disturbing topic of Kate Gosselin becoming K-mart spokesperson again, but that I did not appreciate his canned, automatic reply. Here is his personal, non-canned response to me that came this morning:
Merette,
You are right that I have many emails to answer.
My intent was to communicate that we do care what our customers feel.
Respectfully,
Tom
Merette~
Hey that is awesome. I am sure that all of the emails and follow-up emails has him at least thinking!
Kudos!
I have read this blog for a long time now and posted b4 and just want to say thanks for the blog and info it helps so much. And second I plead to you all take a minute and yes call long distance (might cost ya $2.00, a coffee) and call Tom and leave him a message. Its great to read and leave messages on blogs and rant all we want to but it action to all the sponsors and calls to media that will produce action. Last weeks show (yes I watched it) blew me away and really for a PR clean up couldnt have made Jon and Kate look more selfish, ignorant and basically crappy parents mooching off of their kids than any other show I had seen before. I could go on and on but my reason for posting is only that I beg/plead to you all to make a call and share clearly and proffesionaly with good points about why Gosselins should not be anybodys sponsor. thanks again it might cost only $2.00. If he has a mail box filled with voice mails regarding this issue, daily I think KMart will think twice.
thanks
Anne
AnneinVancouver~
It is an idea, for sure.
I did get a short personal reply that they had made no decisions yet and were taking into consideration the emails and feelings regarding Kate Gosselin. I do think that they may be taking some time to vet her and Jon more thoroughly. Something that they should have done from the get go.
Did anyone from his office call you back?
INteresting, very interesting… I just read in this Forbes magazine online article about retail stores that will be, as a result of impending economic depression, closing down entirely in 2009, downsizing in a major way, or hanging by a thread. Anyway the link to the article is:
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/106466/Where-You-Won‘t-Shop-in-2009
The reason I am posting it here is that Sears Holdings is in deep trouble. Here is the paragraph from the article that I have taken the liberty of pasting here:
Another possible casualty: Sears Holdings, operator of Sears and Kmart stores. A key to hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert’s 2005 merger of the two chains was in the underlying real estate. But with those values down 30% or so since then, slumping sales hit even worse.
“I’d be surprised if Sears-Kmart makes it through the year,” says Britt Beemer, who runs retail market-research firm America’s Research Group.
I DON’T THINK KATE IS GOING TO GET THAT SPOKESPERSON JOB FOR KMART, BASED ON THEIR FINANCIAL SITUATION ALONE. BUT I DO HOPE TOM AIELLO WILL BASE HIS ACTUAL DECSION ON THE CHILD PIMPING PIECE RATHER THAN SEARS HOLDINGS ABYSMAL FINANCIAL PICTURE.
Merette~
Ohhh interesting info. I could never understand why Sears Holdings bought Kmart to begin with – at least as a discount variety store – as Kmart had been in the toilet for years. For the real estate holdings makes sense, but someone in the higher ups right about now are pretty pissed and saying DAYUM, dayum, DAYYYYUUMM!
SO many businesses are going under and most are making “hail Mary” last ditch efforts to save them. As I stated in another reply, I do not feel that they vetted Kate Gosselin in any true way. They were going off what the Gosselin’s PR people/agents were selling them. I feel it was a mistake that they realize now and I do not feel that they will be offering her any contract.
The thing is, they could have utilized her much better through actual TV commercials. Sure they would have been more expensive, but they would have been so much wider reaching. The reason that Kate, Jon and the children don’t do regular commercials is because they would have to join AFTRA. Jon and Kate Plus Eight is a non union show. So either the show would have to become union (not going to happen) or Jon and Kate leave the show and try very hard to ride on the tiny bit of celebrity that they have (again, not going to happen). Quite a catch-22, lol!
You are so on the money about Actor’s union. I was in a commercial many moons (no pun intended) ago and my union dues for that one 30 second shot was $250. Pretty steep for 1991. Although, the commercial years later was re-run and I received a residual check! Those actors mean business!
justaminute~
Yes, but the unions also protect their actors, particularly child actors!
So, inquiring minds and all……………what was the commercial?
And . . . was it local or national???
I totally agree! The price was steep – but it went to ensure all the benefits you mentioned.
It was a Chevy’s Mexican Restaurant Commercial. I think they are owned by Pepsi now. In the 90s (and earlier), it was privately owned. The commercial was set on the Cal Berkeley Campus (I was a student there and a hostess at Chevy’s) and it was like an Olympics spoof. Basically what obstacles a Chevy’s employee has to enfure to make sure your food is served hot.
OT – I read the Forbes article as well. Other businesses listed were Starbucks (No coffee for Jon, but they never gave them freebies so YEA for Starbucks), Ann Taylor (there goes another one Kate) and GAP (if something happens over at Gymboree, then the G’s will have to (GASP) actually purchase their children’s clothes!).
justaminute~
Cool about the commercial!
Funny about all the other business that are connected to the Gosselins….that could be a blog post in itself about Jon and Kate watching all the freebie/sponsor companies going belly up one by one! I have known that Starbucks has been in trouble for a while, but I didn’t know about Ann Taylor (I don’t buy there) or GAP (I don’t buy there either and never have.)
Moon, I wondered at one point why the Greedslin’s were not breaking into TV commercials. Thanks for answering my question! AFTRA!
Local – the only “famous” thing about it was that the firm handling it was Goodby and Silverstein – known for their “Got Milk?” ads.
Wow you people are a bunch of cry babies.. Who cares who they have as their spokesperson for soemthing.. Its there money and they can do what they want with it.
And btw, Kmart bought Sears. And they are doing just fine. They are not going anywhere.. Target and stores like those will be gone way before Kmart does. You people should know what you are talking about before you try to talk about it.
Its there money and they can do what they want with it.
And you should learn the difference between:
there
their
they’re
Even my 4th grader knows the difference, Einstein.
Ohhh sorry that I put the wrong ‘their’ in ‘there’ one time.. God forgive me! So obviously I DID learn the difference.. Make one mistake and I didnt ‘learn the difference.’ Way to read the whole sentence.
And we care about KMart, why? She’s moved on to WalMart and all is well with the world.
KMart is at this moment, I bet, thanking their lucky stars that the relationship is over and this mess is not theirs to handle.
It’s
Didn’t
See we don’t care about KMart but we do care about punctuation.
You people are so petty IT’S unbelievable.. Really.. Sorry I dont proofread a comment on a retarded blog three times before I click submit.. Guess now I know. Funny how the only thing you can argue about my point is a few grammar mistakes in them.. You crybabies are funny.
Ohh crap I did it again.. didn’t* Sorry I didn’t think you grammar kings/queens would be able to read that above comment. Please accept my apologies.
AND one more thing.. You people leaving comments on this blog all sound like you have your own head up your asses.
quitcryingplease~
As is your last post:
You people are so petty IT’S unbelievable.. Really.. Sorry I dont proofread a comment on a retarded blog three times before I click submit.. Guess now I know. Funny how the only thing you can argue about my point is a few grammar mistakes in them.. You crybabies are funny.
Ohh crap I did it again.. didn’t* Sorry I didn’t think you grammar kings/queens would be able to read that above comment. Please accept my apologies.
Actually, it was *DON’T.
Oh, and instant karma.