On September 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pm, sonofdy said:

I am sorry but I don’t agree with this attempt to shut down this magazine based on a few mistakes. They should however be put on notice.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sures sounds to me like you’re saying:

“I want to freely express MY opinion that the rest of you slobs out there should not be so free in expressing YOUR opinions.”

Since each email was about the same issue, a canned response was reasonable.

I suspect JC Penneys will take a close look at any further dealings with the magazine.

On September 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pm, sonofdy said:

I am sorry but I don’t agree with this attempt to shut down this magazine based on a few mistakes. They should however be put on notice.

Waging a shut down campaign is “put on notice”. See how that works?
Attacking, Lying About and Smearing Governor Palin is not a few mistakes it is Attacking, Lying About and Smearing.
See how that works?
—
Hey Obama-Want to see Bitter?
Look at your wife.

Big mistake JCP and McDonald’s.

1) re # 40

On September 8th, 2008 at 6:16 pm, rooster said:

Any legal minds that can read between the lines? If the cover isn’t the approved cover, would Us have to pay back to Pennys all advertising fees? Are they just giving lip service to us dumbos, who are silently clutching our bibles and clinging to our guns?

From a legal standpoint, what we have here is a breach of contract. Penney’s bought ad space in a magazine with specified content, i.e., a particular cover. US runs the ad with a different cover. That is a breach. JCP has damages, i.e., they have been exposed to criticism and even loss of business as a direct result of the breach. They have a good case for canceling any remaining contract obligations, and a good argument for damages. I don’t think US will be trying to impose any retroactive penalties for loss of volume discounts; likely their attorneys will be trying to minimize their losses.

2) Don’t worry about canned responses. They are cheap to do, most corps consider them better than no response. They might well reflect a customer service dept that is overwhelmed with complaints and is unable to respond in any other way for the time being.

But they will at least do a tally, and believe me, the marketing guys will NOT be happy about massive complaints and threats to boycott. There may be no apparent effect immediately, but there will be an effect.

#46 Andy’s 2nd e-mail is the kind of thing that will really get their attention. Getting a second e-mail tells them it isn’t just some hothead blowing off steam who is going to forget it and have a Coke at McDonald’s tomorrow. So if you got a canned response, write them again. Be polite, but tell them it wasn’t good enough, and now you think they don’t value you as a customer.

And if you can, call these companies on the phone. It is MUCH more costly for companies to handle phone complaints than e-mails. If you really want to get their attention, kick them square in the wallet. Be nice (the person on the phone is just doing a job) but make your point. I am just saying I won’t be buying their product, etc., until they stop advertising with US or the other Wenner publications.

Keep up the pressure. Time to punish Wenner; he is a notorious ass who reportedly takes sadistic pleasure in personally firing people and humiliating them in the process. He has been asking for it for years; let’s give it to him big time.

I’m sure none of these companies saw or knew about the cover and article before it was for sale.