GAP appears to be retracting big time on a promotional email put out by head office on Monday Nov 10, that didn’t go over too well with Canadian customers. The offer was on a “puffer vest” for $19.99 on special during a Remembrance Day Sale. Seems many Canadians took issue with the company provoking commercial gain, on what is universally accepted as a somber day of thanks and remembrance, not one to go out and spend just because many have the day off.
Americans as a whole seem more desensitized to the commercialization of holidays. The practice of having sales on Veterans Day is reasonably common place there. I suspect this comes down to subtle cultural differences between Canada and the US, and a decision originally stemming from US marketing directives at Gap. While it’s easy to believe Canadians are similar to Americans in many ways, sometimes US retailers ignore the subtle differences at their peril. In this case, there is not a rich history of commercializing
Nov 11 in Canada. In fact, many retailers with American head offices such as Starbucks
have fallen under criticism for putting up Christmas decor immediately after Halloween,
and not honouring Remembrance Day first, which had historically been a Canadian custom. I also think that this year, Canadians are perhaps hyper sensitive to giving true significance to Remembrance Day, given the targeted hit of two Armed Forces personnel on Canadian soil recently, and our now active involvement in the Middle East. What do you think about all this? CBC Vancouver is doing a piece on at during the 5pm news tonight. I was asked to be interviewed for my thoughts about it, but couldn’t make it. Watch @AndrewChangCBC tonight and chime in with your thoughts!
Click here a link to the Toronto CBC TV news at 5pm piece.
Global covered this as well. Looks like their marketing department had a busy day putting out fires. http://globalnews.ca/news/1666151/canadian-retailers-show-bad-form-by-offering-remembrance-day-sales/