Lululemon founder and Vancouver billionaire, Chip Wilson, faced several critics due to a controversial comment he made during his interview on Bloomberg TV’s “Street Smart” program. He justified complaints regrading Lululemon tights being “too sheer” by stating that “quite frankly, some bodies actually do not work for it” . Numerous consumers found this comment discriminatory against women of different body sizes and accused the company of only providing their products for a niche market.

Founder of Lululemon, Chip Wilson, during his controversial interview with Bloomberg TV.

The immense vulnerability of a company’s fate is in the hands of their consumers. The true intentions of a company can be lost in a series of social media bursts and misinterpreted advertising and cause their consumers to question their ethics and morals. Wilson eventually made a public apology for his statement, however, consumers were not satisfied. Chip Wilson  and CEO Christine Day stepped down from their position as Laurent Potdevin, who was the president of TOMS, became the companies new CEO. The perceptions of consumers were so heavily influenced that Lululemon had to remove the figurehead of their company in order to maintain and adequately enforce their values and ethical standpoints.

http://business.financialpost.com/2013/12/10/lululemon-athletica-inc-founder-chip-wilson-to-step-down-new-ceo-named-as-yoga-wear-maker-tries-new-management-on-for-size/

http://globalnews.ca/news/950626/lululemon-founder-says-their-pants-do-not-work-for-some-womens-bodies/

In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the American East Coast and was labeled one of the deadliest hurricanes to have ever hit the United States. Initially, marketers of several retailers saw this as an opportunity to promote their products with clever slogans, such as “This Storm Blows But Free Shipping on All Orders Doesn’t” (Urban Outfitters) and “Every cloud has a silver lining” (Singer22) in attempts to boost sales.  However, these marketing strategies soon became distasteful and raised numerous critics as the severity of the hurricane worsened.

American Apparel’s “Sandy Sale”

One company that was faced with setbacks was American Apparel. The company offered a 20 percent discount to customers in the states most affected by Hurricane Sandy by promoting their discount code “SANDYSALE” on their online store.  Although they were armed with an angelic value proposition, which is based on their anti-sweatshop clothing production, they were at an obvious fault ethically and jeopardized the image of their company. Companies are extremely vulnerable to poor timing and misinterpreted marketing strategies that may sway the perception of their consumers, no matter the company. I believe that a strong moral code truly attracts consumers. In this case, CEO Dov Charney was able to combat the critics by publicizing his companies intentions and making donations to various organizations.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-31/american-apparel-ceo-dov-charney-on-his-controversial-ad