I guess this could all be viewed with an all's fair in love and war... business is business kind of attitude, but I'm not sure that companies can afford to be quite that blasé—especially in the oh-so-tiny world of UK surfing.
These days, consumers are responding less favourably to these somewhat mercenary tacticians, and, rightly so. The reaction on Facebook has proven that. People have become wise to these methods, and they have strong opinions on them, meaning the 'big(ger)-daddies' of retail are finding it increasingly difficult to sneak things like this under the radar.
Now, I don't think it would be completely fair to vilify Howies here. There's always the chance that something could've happened unbeknownst to them and that there's an innocuous reason for all of this, but if that is the case, Howies (who quickly removed the ad) might want to be a bit more careful in future.
It's an interesting story, so take the time to read Finisterre's account, and make your own mind up.
EDIT > Howies have posted a response, and they're PISSED! Go here.
No comments:
Post a Comment