I was going to avoid the following rant until this evening something caused me to snap.
Debenhams. They bought out Roches. Because of where I worked at the time, I knew this long before ‘the world’ was told. It made me want to cry. And possibly commit random acts of arson. But, I did resist. Until now. Now, they have crossed the line. In fact, they did it a few years ago.
How? Styling the FRICKING NATION.
According to this fairly random fashion website, debenhams adopted the slogan in January 2005 to help boost sales and “as a promotional hook”. A right hook delivered to the jaw of their marketing executives might be more appropriate.
Here’s my issue - and please bear in mind the lengths I am going to to resist the previously hinted at “did we really do all that fighting and dying so that lot could swan back in here and buy our souls?” rant.
According to their website, they have branches all over England. And Scotland. And Wales. So even before they came over here, they were using their choice slogan to insult at least two other nations (and this is without getting into a discussion on whether England counts as a nation - or indeed if such a thing still exists, if it ever did, and if it ever should have!!). I don’t know if anyone ever pointed out to them that this was spectacularly ignorant. I do hope so.
In fact, having thought about it, I can only hope that they did use that same ‘thoughtful’ slogan in Scotland and Wales. That would at least dilute the offensiveness of their using it here.
Why take offence? Because at best it’s smug and patronising, and at worst it’s just damned ignorant. Like the fact that apparently Ireland doesn’t qualify as an international location in their eyes. History lessons are apparently beyond them, but maybe they could try Geography - supposedly it’s easier.
What grates at me is that their marketing executives (the aforementioned who should at the very least be given bloody noses if not pink slips) developed the slogan to give a sense of ownership to the english people. I can see the pitch now - “make them feel like debenhams is their national store”. It’s a perfectly reasonable pitch for a campaign run STRICTLY WITHIN THE BORDERS OF THEIR NATION. It would be like if Dunnes Stores had a slogan that said “Buy Irish stuff : it’s nicer and you’ll feel all warm and fuzzy inside”.
The intention of the slogan is to instill a sense of nation and attach that to the brand. So, frankly, they should be ashamed of themselves for daring to use it in another country. What, are we supposed to feel like part of England now? Will we dress in our best britches and go ‘take tea’ with the queen? WHY on EARTH would we want to do that?
It is bad enough that yet another Irish chain has disappeared only to be replaced by yet another english one. It is bad enough, frankly, that grafton street and oxford street are becoming virtually indistinguishable. It is bad enough, that we are ploughing money into a neverending stream of foreign companies and completely neglecting local industry. But for the love of all that is good (and/or holy), must we let them be so damned lazy about taking our money??
The good news is I’m not the only one bitching about debenhams so even if I were for any reason sent to purgatory for it, I won’t be alone.
In the course of my hunting on this topic, I found this curious site for rating and searching a variety of ads. Hours of fun. (No, I’m serious)
