judge city

Remember those weird commercials where women would scream at window displays that read “SALE” and turn angry red when coupons flew out of their mailboxes?  They were supposed to explain JC Penney’s “revolutionary” business makeover: JC Penney got rid of sales and coupons in favor of year-long “reasonable prices.”

The “joke” of these exasperated women eschewing coupons fell flat of course, because in reality, in a recession, people want and need sales.

But then again, odd ads aside, their plan was fatally flawed from the start. As Donny Deutsche told Ann Curry on the Today Show, “It was the classic case of them not understanding their clients.” I usually only watch the Today Show so I can learn how to use avocado and duct tape to get rid of my cellulite, but the man had a point.

We’re in a place where no one is in a position to turn down a discount. To make such a business model overhaul so unclear to those it was supposedly serving in itself wasn’t smart. But, even more foolish was for them to deny the fiercely protected American ethos: the dream of opportunity, the freedom of choice. Coupons are the opportunity to get something for less, to allow you to save on this and splurge on that. They’re an intelligence boost, saying “I am a smart, informed shopper.” And in a recession, the need  for discounts is at an all time high. “Reasonable” prices does not make a single parent or a family struggling to make ends meet feel “assured” that they’re getting a good deal.

Basically, they told their loyal customers that, “We know coupons make you sad and confused and since you’re not smart enough to figure them out, we’ll give you a good deal.” They say that like an older sibling tricking their younger sibling into giving them their lollipop.

JC Penny’s second wave of ad campaigns, were garish commercials that felt like blatant attempts at placating the public with catching colors, waiting for JC Penney to tell us what a good deal was.   Bright scenery, happy families, excessive pantomime to creepy music–it all felt like an old escapism musical.  Except, back when America found itself picking up the pieces of a war, people no longer wanted to see glitzy song and dance. They wanted to see gangsters getting blown up, spider women pulling innocent men into the seedy underworld of noir Los Angeles.  People didn’t want to escape, they wanted to see a screen reflect their own paranoia.

In our recession, we don’t necessarily want to commiserate and stew in our struggles on-screen, but we do want progress and solutions. We don’t want to escape, we just want it to get better. JC Penney offered no solutions, rendered its customers helpless, and worse of all tried to distract us with silly fluff advertising.

So to say the plan backfired is a bit of an understatement. With sales plummeting and the hasty exit of JC Penney President Michael Francis, it’s all too easy to see the tired by true  importance of “knowing your audience” and moreover, respecting their needs. Francis is certainly not without talent. His efforts in making Target the fresh, fancier Wal-Mart are a great lesson in marketing, branding, and advertisement. Just showing again how the people were lost in JC Penney’s grand, seemingly un-thought out campaign.

I’m curious to see how JC Penney fixes itself, and in the end, I am hoping for a triumph because there’s nothing more American than a fruitful ending.

Sidenote: One of my favorite columnists, Frank Bruni, explores a different aspect of JC Penney advertising: http://bruni.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/penneys-gay-wager/