Business & Tech
JCPenney Airing Apology on TV, Facebook and YouTube
Have you changed your opinion toward your nearby JCPenney?
JCPenney has begun airing a video apologizing to customers for its recent changes in the way it does business—changes that it concedes alienated many of its most loyal customers.
The company's ill-advised shift away from discounts and loyal brands could be compared to the New Coke debacle of 1985, a series of security slip-ups by Facebook, and the BP Gulf oil spill, according to Bloomberg news.
The article details the changes instituted by former CEO Ron Johnson, who is blamed for losing the retail titan nearly $1 billion ($985 million) in his one-year tenure.
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Similar to BP’s CEO Tony Hayward’s plain-speak “I’m deeply sorry” video following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2012, the JCPenney spot says:
“It’s no secret, recently JCPenney changed—some changes you liked and some you didn’t, but what matters with mistakes is what we learn.”
Find out what's happening in Bethesda-Chevy Chasefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“We learned a very simple thing—to listen to you, to hear what you need, to make your life more beautiful. Come back to JCPenney. We heard you.”
The video was part of a marketing campaign overseen by Sergio Zyman, who shepherded the Coca-Cola company through the aftermath of the company’s disastrous release of New Coke 28 years ago.
For a list of JCPenney stores nearby and in Maryland, click here.
