So, in a move that really truly has surprised me, @lanebryant has apologized for their tweet yesterday. And has made the effort to apologize to each individual involved. Even if that was automated somehow, I’m still kind of impressed.
Heather is the name of the person tweeting for LB. Hi, Heather! Sorry we had to meet you under these circumstances.
An apology, though, is really just the beginning. I don’t expect a radical shift in Lane Bryant’s style or anything – after all, this is really an issue with their marketing department. What I do expect is a greater awareness in their marketing department (and that doesn’t just mean their Twitter feed) of their customer. All of their customers – not just the ones who hate their fat.
Lane Bryant, you have a really diverse customer base. People of various genders, people of color, people of various sizes, shapes, ages, and styles. People who believe in fat acceptance as a radical alternative to self hatred.
People who think it is in incredibly bad taste for a representative of a mega corp to go after an indie artist in the first place, much less a fat activist blogger.
Lane Bryant – Heather: there’s a growing number of people who aren’t afraid of the word fat. Who are working hard to reclaim it and to reclaim the respect and dignity that our culture denies to fat bodies. The fat activist community is, itself, diverse with different factions representing different degrees of radicalism and different stances on key issues.
It’d be great if you want to be part of that, Lane Bryant. Fat positive bloggers are some of the biggest and loudest voices when it comes to talking about your products online. We take our fatshion seriously (some of us) as both a means of expression and a means of politicizing our bodies even more.
And sometimes we just like to talk about pretty clothes.
An apology is the first step. Now @lanebryant has to live up to Heather’s sincere promise to do better. It’s a hackneyed truth that once trust is broken, it’s much harder to earn back than it was to earn in the first place. But I think most of us would be willing to forgive if we saw some genuine effort to connect with the online fat positive community.
What do y’all think, on this totally fance Friday? Where do you stand regarding Lane Bryant now? What do you think of their apology and what would you like to see?
For once, Lane Bryant seems to be paying a little bit of attention to its customers. What do we want to say to them?
23 Comments
Perfectly said. I really can think of nothing more to add.
I hope that LB takes this as a learning situation about their customers. The Fatosphere is now on their radar because of their blunder and hopefully they will now be able to educate themselves on this side of their customer base.
I don’t expect them to be radical. But marketers need to understand there can be a difference between being political and being positive. Maybe, just maybe, something good can come of this?
I’m too optimistic for my own good usually. Plus, I freakin’ love their bras. Damnit, stop being difficult LB! heh
I’d hope to see them be more fat positive but I doubt that it will happen, so I’m not expecting it.
The unfortunate thing of it is, is this won’t necessarily affect their bottom line. For many people LB is the plus-size store they have to go to. Personally, it has the most affordable bras in my size and I will keep buying them for that.
I’m glad they apologized though, it’s certainly not the standard thing to do for a large corporation.
I wish they’d lower their outlandish prices on non-basics, and try to keep up with the fatshion world–we don’t need to be two seasons behind just because we’re fat.
While I do appreciate the response and the apology, I feel like it’s not genuine and also sort of a cop out… Did Heather really think it was making fun of fat people? I don’t believe that argument because she said she knew who @definatalie was in a tweet right after the initial problematic one: http://twitter.com/lanebryant/status/19847786554
An apology is better than nothing, I suppose…
Nineteen minutes after the initial post attacking the t-shirt, LB’s rep said, “Acceptance is g48, but we feel there r better ways to promote it.” And then it took how many hours to apologize?
I think it says something about them that they chose to highlight an independent t-shirt maker rather than, say, any of the many, many corporations out there who regularly make fat people’s lives more difficult.
The Fatosphere can point LB to good places to look if they want to see actual fatphobia in action.
But I think they aren’t interested because they benefit from fatphobia. LB’s limited selection and their corporate statements suggest that they really don’t believe fat women deserve anything more than LB is offering.
I’d love to believe Lane Bryant goes somewhere with this. I know they can if they choose. Thanks to you and the many fat positive bloggers who made a difference yesterday!
I think it’s an impressive response from a corporate entity. A day may seem like a long time to us, but in corporate time, that’s pretty damned quick.
They now know that they are on watch and any future fuckups will have greater repercussions. I hope that rather than simply avoid the issues, they will engage Fat Acceptance activists to find out how they can help make a positive impact on their customers. For instance, the “Real Woman” campaign has got to go.
In any case, this was an incredible moment for Team Fance and fatties everywhere. LB now knows not to cross Fat Acceptance.
Peace,
Shannon
The apology was fine. I’m shocked they made it, so I guess kudos to them. But damn, I would like them to show their clothes on bodies that aren’t the hourglass – show me your clothes ON A BODY THAT FUCKING LOOKS LIKE MINE. Stop ignoring a sizable portion of your customer base and pretending that fat’s okay as long as you’re only *this* fat. If my size is acceptable to sell clothes to, why isn’t it acceptable to be seen on your website or your catalog?
Precisely. If you want to appear fat accepting, then where are the fat people on your website selling clothes for fat people?
Must as I don’t like these descriptors, I would love to see statistics on what percentage of plus-sized people are “apple,” “pear” or “hourglass” shaped. My guess is that “pear” is the most common shape, and “apple” a close second.
Maybe plus-sized retailers would make more money if they made clothes for the bodies fat folks actually have…
I’m good with the apology. I think it was spot on. But this line really got me:
“For once, Lane Bryant seems to be paying a little bit of attention to its customers. What do we want to say to them?”
Yeah, this may be the first time I’ve ever felt acknowledged by this company. Not even valued, yet, but just plain acknowledged.
This is the first time that I haven’t felt like this is a real company with real people as opposed to mindless-faceless money-grubbing jerks, jacking up prices because fatties are a captive market without choices.
That’s really sad, LB. I think that the apology was pretty spot on. But I am now KEENLY aware of how far this company has to go to win my approval–not even as a fat activist but simply as a savvy consumer.
I know tweets are under 200 characters, but I’d like to see a little more thought go into them. I’m guilty of thoughtless tweeting at times, certainly, but if #lanebryant had considered for a moment the absurdity of anyone besides fat pos people making, selling, or buying a shirt like that, they (she) may have realized the intentions of the shirt. That said, the apology was swift and seems sincere. I have high hopes for increased awareness and sensitivity in situations like this in the future.
I’ve commented on the site, and I hope lots more people weigh in as well. I think LB knows that it’s in a lot more shit than it lets on — look at their extreme brand restructuring over the past few years. Of course, it went in precisely the wrong direction — slapped some fancy brand names on sublines and jacked up the price while not improving the fit, styles, or quality — but I believe they are aware that they are not in line with the fatshion community, as it stands. They know their market is changing and they don’t know what to do. So they might, just might, listen to us this time. Even just a little bit.
Yay, they apologized to tweeters individually (including me) – with almost the EXACT SAME WORDS each time. Cut & paste much? And the apology itself – tossing in that their twitter voice is plus-sized … so what?
I used to shop at LB all the time, especially when I needed semi-professional clothes. Now I can’t remember the last time I bought something there. Mostly because they sell ridiculously over-priced for what it is, poorly or strangely made stuff trying too hard to be trendy and not hard enough to meet the needs of what is supposedly the company’s core buyer. This little kerfluffle isn’t likely to change my mind anytime soon. I’ll stick with paying more at Macys, or ordering on-line from Old Navy, thanks.
Not only do I hope that Lane Bryant changes its mentality, I hope that other LB shoppers that might have never thought of fat acceptance as an option/lifestyle will see the comments of you and other fat pos bloggers and take a moment to think about it. Good things will come from this debacle.
It was good that they apologized.
Now if they really want to make some of us fat-accepting shoppers happy, they will stop their obsession with sequins, graphic print, tops cut so low us bigger-breasted ladies always have to layer—and maybe reduce some of their prices too!
“For once, Lane Bryant seems to be paying a little bit of attention to its customers. What do we want to say to them?”
My hope is that now that they have been “enlightened” by the backlash, I hope they stay that way. Sit up and listen LB and all other exclusively plus sized clothing retailers. Fat Acceptance is your salvation…..and Jesus just twittered you his ten commandments!
1. Thou shalt know that all bodies are created equal and worthy of well fitting, stylish, and flattering clothing.
2. Thou shalt provide models of various sizes and shapes wearing thou clothing so people everywhere can understand how thou clothing may fit on thy bodies.
3. Thou shalt LISTEN to thy paying customer with thou’s fullest attention that extends beyond the realm of Twitterville.
4. Thou shalt explore thy interwebs fervently for clarity from Fatshionable blogs to understand the needs of thou’s target consumer.
5. Thou shalt not fall for the death tolls of thy Obesity Panic Bells that insist all fat people everywhere are ashamed of thy bodies.
6. Thou shalt LOVE thy customer with all thine heart, because thy customer is a jealous customer who will remember with a fiery passion how unappealing thine clothing is and plunketh thy sheckles of gold in other coffers.
7. Thou shalt NOT make the MAJORITY of thou’s offerings embellished with cartoon characters, gigantic floral prints, wild animal heads/bodies, glitter, sequins, or colors a Yak wouldn’t even wear.
8. Thou shalt NOT gouge thy consumer with pricing for sub-standard clothing simply because thou can.
9. Thou shalt provide accurate and detailed sizing/dimension information for all thy products you offer, IN EVERY SIZE THOU SELLS.
10. Thou shalt NEVER…EVER use the words “Real Women” when marketing thy products. This makes thine consumer twitchy, furious, and thirsty for blood. Thy consumer is ALREADY REAL, HAS ALWAYS BEEN REAL, and SPENDS REAL MONEY!
So let it be written…..so shall it be done!Are you LISTENING LANE BRYANT?
Regina, I just want to say, I like t-shirts with cartoon characters on them!
If they are listening, I’d like to tell LB to start using FAT FAT FATTIES as models. There are beautiful women who could do it, I am sure, and it would be way more helpful to me in deciding what the clothes will look like on me. The models they have are all drop-dead gorgeous, and they all have these curvy, toned, Photoshopped bodies that are still very much within the bounds of cultural notions of “fucking wow hotness.”
I’m all for that, that’s actually the type of woman I am attracted to, but it’s not the kind of woman I want to see modeling fatty clothes, not exclusively.
Also, their CSRs when I call in are great people, and I am not really easily embarrassed, but the time I called in and got a guy and was trying to order about a gazillion panties in size TRIPLE-ASS, yeah, that was awkward. Maybe just ’cause I wasn’t expecting it. He was COMPLETELY professional and VERY sweet and VERY helpful, and he straightened out my problem super-fast without saying One Dadblame Word About It, but . . . it threw me.
Okay, that last is probably really My Issues or something, and I can’t come up with a solution to it that doesn’t involve not hiring any more guys, or firing that incredibly nice and helpful and cute-sounding young man, neither of which are cool at all, which means it should probably be ignored by corporate. But that doesn’t mean I can’t talk about it.
Also, seriously, I know this has been said, but even more than the implications of what they were saying re: the FAT shirt, what bothers me is that they were going after an indie woman, when independent businesswomen really need all the support they can get, and HUGE CORPORATIONS should not be shitting on them. I hope she gets lots of business out of this kerfuffle.
But truly, what the fuck? Who was at the helm when that happened? Vader that person! I find their lack of faith disturbing.
I agree with the other comments here. One point I’d like to bring up is that LB’s anti-fat statements not only alienate current customers but also *potential* ones. It’s funny to me that companies so often don’t appear to consider this. I’ve never bought a thing at Lane Bryant but own some of their clothes by virtue of my local thrift store. Lately I’ve been thinking about giving their website or retail stores a try, but now I’m reconsidering. If they’d use larger models or at least show a diversity or shapes, that would also be great.
The apology is nice (and it’s sad that we are so impressed that a mega-corporation responds to anyone at all), but proof is in the pudding (and not non-fat!), so I’m waiting to see what happens. In the meantime, my dollars are not going to them…..yet.
Just want to clarify that in saying, “it’s sad that we are so impressed that a mega-corporation responds to anyone at all” I mean that the corporate business climate these days (in general) seems so removed from genuine concern about customer satisfaction, and I wish it weren’t such an unusual event to get a response from them when voicing a complaint. On the other hand, it is really cool that the fat-positive community rallied and got some kind of action. Keep it up! Way to go!
There’s something off about this apology, imo. Either they’re not telling the truth, simply trying to say the right words to get the Fatospere off their backs. Or Heather really is a ‘plus-sized’ woman trying to defend her ‘plus-sized’ sisters with this “knee jerk” reaction. Except that she represents a huge corporation, and a knee jerk reaction like this when you represent someone other than yourself is… well, stupid. Sorry to be harsh, but it’s true. Either way, it sucks to see a corp which represents an image of fat people represent themselves this way.
I don’t think it was a kneejerk reaction at all. Corporate social media is by design very calculated, unless LB is the exception to the rule. I can’t imagine that any company would allow their social media experts to post anything w/o some buy-in from management. I think they saw it as a way to get their core audience to gather their torches and pitchforks and rise up against an indie artist cutting into their profit margins.
The best thing they could do is make their clothes more affordable and more realistic for those of us who don’t work in a hippie commune. I find more in the plus-size Old Navy collections than I do at LB nowadays, not to mention the occasional fun item from Torrid. I’m just glad we have options that don’t involve caftans or Thelma Harper style plus size wear (or shopping at any store with “Stout” in the name).
The best thing about this whole mess is the exposure its given Natalie’s work. I have the shirt on order now, and I might not have known about it otherwise. Take that, Lane Bryant!!
p.s. Thank you Marianne! Love you & your blog!
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