Loving the attention

As many of you may be aware already, fashion retailer Gasp has stirred up some pretty intense controversy recently after responding to a Melbourne woman's complaint email regarding her mistreatment by a sales assistant in Gasp's Chapel St. store.


At first, after reading the email and Gasp's response, I thought this must be some kind of hoax and all publicity is good publicity, but it apparently is not. Shockingly enough, Gasp seem to be confirming the genuineness of the email, while Gasp hate groups on Facebook are spreading and growing. Meanwhile the Gasp Facebook page is being monitored by Gasp staff for any negative comments that they feel should be removed, while they are also embracing the public attention and posting plenty of links relating to the controversy.


Extract from the complaint email by Keara O’Neil (Above):
"After waiting down the road for my bridesmaids to come out of the store I was told by one of them that the sales assistant yelled out “Have fun finding something at Supre”, when one of them approached him in regards to his comments, he replied “I knew you girls were a joke the minute you walked in”. When my bridesmaids walked out of the store another two customers walked out with them, they too could not believe the immaturity of the sales assistant."

Gasp Dress

Extract from the response email by GASP area manager Matthew Chidgey:
"...the customer whom is acclimatised to buying from “clothing for the masses” type retailers, is almost frightened by our range.....almost finds our dresses funny, and on occasion noted comments such as 'it looks like a dead flamingo'. When we receive comments like this, we like to give ourselves and our buyers, a big pat on the back, because we know we are doing our job right, and modus operandi is being upheld." 
"Let me guess, you would never, ever hire Chris in the course of your duty, would you? ........Chris is a retail superstar, who possess unparalleled ability, and I am sorry you feel upset by him, but he knew you were not going to buy anything before you even left your house."


It seems a dangerous era for companies to be responding to customer complaints with a 'customer isn't always right' kind of attitude.


I wonder if this has or will affect Gasp's customer base and loyalty, and I wonder if their sales will reflect  poorly or positively after the widespread controversy on the internet through social media networks, news websites and online videos.

Is this publicity gone bad? Is all publicity good publicity? What do you think?