Reese Witherspoon's Disastrous Dress Giveaway for Teachers - The New York Times |
| Reese Witherspoon's Disastrous Dress Giveaway for Teachers - The New York Times Posted: 15 Apr 2020 03:38 AM PDT  In mid-March, just around the time that American schools and offices started closing because of the coronavirus pandemic, not that long before numerous designers had suddenly become heroes for volunteering their services to hand-sew masks so that surgical-grade ones could go to those who needed them most, the staff at Draper James, Reese Witherspoon's fashion label, started talking about doing something for teachers. Many of the staff had young children. Like so many other parents with children now permanently at home, they suddenly appreciated their schooling in a whole new way. What if we gave teachers dresses, someone said. Everyone loved it, including Ms. Witherspoon. On Thursday, April 2, Draper James announced the offer on its Instagram page, writing: "Dear Teachers: We want to say thank you. During quarantine, we see you working harder than ever to educate our children. To show our gratitude, Draper James would like to give teachers a free dress." They were instructed to apply by a form, given a deadline, and told when "winners" would be notified — as well as that it was valid "while supplies last." Unfortunately for the company, that turned out to be not very long, given the response. And that made the dress debacle at Draper James both a case study in fashion's wide-ranging power to symbolize hope and positivity, as well as what happens when national crisis, celebrity business, altruism and social media collide. See, the day after the announcement, Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush featured the offer on NBC's "Today" show. The program's web page announced, "Reese Witherspoon's label Draper James is giving free dresses to teachers." "Good Morning America" touted it too. Other brands were also donating products: Pronovias, the bridal group, said it would give wedding dresses to engaged hospital workers, doctors and janitors alike; Keen, the outdoor recreation company, said it would donate 100,000 shoes to people affected by Covid-19. But the Draper James combination of teachers, dresses (not exactly essential, but the sort of fairy godmother extra that makes people feel special) and Reese Witherspoon added up to a viral moment. "In many parts of the country, a lot of teachers really don't feel appreciated, and don't get paid very well, and the idea of a free dress during a high stress time was really exciting," said Natalie Ornell, a substitute middle schoolteacher in the Boston public school system. "It was really like Cinderella." Tammy Meyer, a kindergarten teacher in the Georgia public school system, felt the same way. "It was Reese Witherspoon!" she said. "She's always been one of my favorite actresses. To have a dress associated with her at a time when everyone is so overwhelmed — I guess we were grasping at straws." The problem was, Draper James, a company that is only five years old and has fewer than 30 employees, had only 250 dresses, in six different styles, to give away. There are more than 3 million public schoolteachers in the United States, and a large majority of them are women. The application form crashed almost immediately. Just days after the original Instagram post appeared, it had been viewed more than 400,000 times. Teachers were emailing one another and sharing it online. By the close of the application period, Draper James had almost one million applications — which was approximately seven times the total number of dresses they had sold in 2019. The numbers were never going to add up. "We felt like we moved too quickly and didn't anticipate the volume of the response," said Marissa Cooley, the senior vice-president for brand marketing and creative at Draper James. "We were really overwhelmed. It was way more volume than the company had ever seen. We expected the single digit thousands." The company tried to backpedal as soon as it did the math, contacting everyone who applied to let them know it was a raffle, not a mass giveaway, and posting the actual giveaway number twice on its Instagram Stories. But the damage had been done. All of a sudden the desire to help started to look like a cynical marketing ploy. "Celebrity #Covidwashing," as David Carroll, an associate professor of media design at Parsons, called it on Twitter, had entered the conversation. Especially because, in order to qualify for the giveaway, teachers had been asked to submit both pictures of their school IDs and their work email addresses, which at once were clogged with multiple Draper James promotions, which didn't stop even after the dress raffle had been held. (Those who didn't win were offered a 30 percent discount, and the opportunity to unsubscribe.) "In the end, it felt like her brand profited more than the teachers," Ms. Ornell said. Teachers had a lot to say about it. Ms. Cooley said that when the company realized the extent of the misunderstanding, its employees were very upset. After all, their intentions were good. 250 teachers were made very happy. But while it is true that the company is small, Ms. Witherspoon herself is big, maybe even "one of the most powerful people in Hollywood." In good times, that perception benefits her brand. It probably is part of what convinced her to enter the fashion arena in the first place, monetizing her image and following in the footsteps of Gwyneth Paltrow at Goop, Jessica Alba at the Honest Company and Kate Hudson at Fabletics. It also created a disjunction between perception and reality that contributed to misconceptions. It would not have seemed out of the realm of possibility to many teachers, who as of May 2019 had a median annual income of $59,670 (per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), with the lowest 10 percent making only $39,020, that Ms. Witherspoon, whose most recent pay rate was reported to be $2 million an episode for "The Morning Show" on Apple TV, was giving everyone who applied a dress. Assuming she was giving away her cheapest dress, which sells for $78, and if the cost of that dress to her company is, say, $40, which takes into account the average wholesale margin, that would have meant spending something like $40 million on the giveaway This is a time when — thanks in part to social media — the cult of personality that attaches to a founder is often conflated with the company they run. Giving away $40 million in dresses may even have seemed in character, at least as far as this public character went. Ms. Witherspoon is a very plausible dream benefactor, swooping in to do something entirely unexpected and joy-giving. "She always seemed like such a down-to-earth celebrity," said Laura Deckman, Mr. Carroll's sister and a teacher in the Rochester, N.Y, public school system, who said she followed Ms. Witherspoon on Instagram. "She has a really strong brand that is about being a mom and regular person." But then it had all turned into a moldy pumpkin, and they felt like chumps. Which made it even worse. "It's like a marketing 101 fail," Mr. Carroll said. "The intentions were good, but the execution was terrible." Because of the breadth and depth of the pandemic — because it touches such an enormous swathe of people in a way that is unlike anything we have experienced before — "these are really uncharted waters," he said. Now the company is scrambling to repair the damage, trying to source more stock and put together another giveaway. Over Easter weekend, Draper James sent another letter to its applicants, stating that it was making a donation (the company declined to say how much) to a charity that supplies teachers with school necessities to send to their remote-learning students, as well as "actively working on expanding our offerings, both internally and with outside retail partners who were also inspired by your stories and want to join in honoring your community, and we ask for your patience while we organize this effort." It added a gigantic "unsubscribe" button to the email. Ms. Meyer, for one, was not particularly satisfied. "It was a pretty weak apology," she said. "They weren't very clear with what they are specifically going to do with their 'partnering up' and trying to make up for their mistake and satisfy educators." Ms. Deckman didn't necessarily even want a free dress any more, Mr. Carroll said. The power of that dress and what it had represented — the balm of beauty and fame — had been tarnished. Instead, he said, she wanted the company "to stop trying to use her profession as part of their branding." And to take this as an education, at the very least.  |
| ‘FF7 Remake’ Wall Market dress guide: Get all 9 for Tifa, Cloud, and Aerith - Inverse Posted: 14 Apr 2020 11:49 AM PDT Final Fantasy VII Remake is, at times, more than an action-adventure title where you slice monsters with a massive blade, but an important section in the middle of the game also has to carefully select a dress for each of the main characters to wear. What are your dress options for Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith? If you're really into fashion, then Final Fantasy VII Remake can feel like the journey to obtain the different dresses that can be worn in Chapter 9 when Cloud, Aerith, and Tifa infiltrate Don Corneo's mansion in Wall Market. The methods for obtaining each dress aren't immediately clear, and your knowledge from how this sequence plays out in the original can only take you so far. How to choose the right dress for Tifa Tifa has three dresses to pick from: Mature, Sporty, and Exotic. To pick between the three, you'll need to complete all available Side Quests found in Chapter 3. Once they're completed, a purple marker denoting a discovery event will appear in your Sector 7 apartment. Interact with the marker to begin an event where Cloud talks to Tifa. It'll conclude with you choosing between these three dress variants. If you missed the Side Quests or simply don't want to do the extra work, Tifa will wear the Mature dress by default, which is also what she wore to Wall Market in the original Final Fantasy VII. Here are the three dress options to provide you with space to make an informed decision.    How to choose the right dress for Aerith Unlike Tifa, you'll never receive an option to choose what dress Aerith will don in Chapter 9. The dress Aerith wears is instead determined by the number of Side Quests completed in Chapter 8, the one where you officially meet her. Dress one is provided by default, dress two is unlocked by completing 3/6 Side Quests, dress three (and the closest one to what she wore in the original Final Fantasy VII) is unlocked by completed all six Side Quests available in Chapter 8. If you'd like to choose between the three, here are images of each.    How to choose the right dress for Cloud Cloud himself was somehow roped into joining Don Corneo's dress brigade, becoming a divine drag superstar in the process. Like Aerith, Cloud's attire is also dependant on your Side Quest selection. He can wear a white dress, a black and blue dress, or a black dress. The black dress is unlocked by default, while the other two attires are obtained by completing specific questlines. Completing one questline will lock the other one. The white dress will be unlocked by completing the questline beginning with "The Price of Thievery" Side Quest. To unlock it, you'll need to fulfill a few pre-requisites in Chapter 9. You're allowed to miss a few of these, just make sure to hit the majority of them.
Alternatively, if you'd like the black and blue dress for Cloud, you'll need to complete a different questline in Chapter 9, beginning with "The Party Never Stops" Side Quest. To unlock it, complete the following prerequisites. Again, you're allowed to miss a few of these, but make sure to hit the majority of them.
You'll unlock either "The Price of Thievery" or "The Party Never Stops" questline after finishing the final bout in "The Underground Colosseum" quest. Alternatively, you can ignore both lists entirely, instead opting for Cloud's black dress, which is his default look. If you're having trouble choosing, here's how all three attires look    How to obtain all 9 dresses for Cloud, Aerith, and TifaTo obtain all nine dresses, you'll need to do a few replays after first beating the whole game. Luckily chapter select will be unlocked afterwards. To use it to claim other dresses, replay Chapter 3 and choose a different outfit for Tifa. Then exit to the main menu. Afterward, skip directly to Chapter 8 to clear Aerith's requirements and play through the Don Corneo section of Chaoter 9. It's a bit troublesome, but that's what it takes to be a Final Fashionista. Final Fantasy VII Remake is currently available for PlayStation 4.  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from "dresses" - Google News. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
0 Yorumlar