Community Chat

[Commoner Exec Mr Wilkes]

I agree that "working from home" would have nothing to do with this as an excuse.

At most major corporations any copy being sent externally such as customer emails normally goes through several approval levels, often even legal.

This seems like a breakdown of review and oversight,  whether the employee was at home or at QVC headquarters.

[pbjb]

Thank you for such an eloquent response.  Your last paragraph especially, is what I have been wanting to reply to folks that are saying, "There are so many other important issues going on in the world right now, why make such a fuss about this?"  Yes, let's all do better.

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@ajsidney12 wrote:

As women we have been and are still, in certain situations marginalized, and minority women moreso. We must support one another and understand when something impacts one specific group it should impact all of us; united we stand and divided we (are) falling. Never take the attitude "Weelll, it did not effect me directly" or "Well, I was not offended". We need to do better and listen to how people are impacted by words and actions of others; empathy seems to be a dying action in the world, because so many people think only they matter, their opinion, and cannot see anything else. 

The TSV email subject line was disgusting, I have seen "Full Metal Jacket" (and heard the rap and pop songs of the 80s that sampled the phrases) and knew exactly what was said and the context it is used in the movie/songs. Add to insult to inury, the owner of the company being of Asian decent, then using a phrase like that is even more problematic.  Oh, yeah and it was International Women's Day. We should all be upset because we are women and human kindness is better than sticking your head in the sand or rolling your eyes at the situation.

An apology email yesterday was a gesture in the right direction but that also came out at 6pm...kind of late but at least they did it.  And, how did a mass marketing email get through practices and standards, or whatever they call it for marketing practices? That is beyond my understanding.

Yes, there are a lot of hurtful things going on in the world and in our own backyards.  Large numbers of these tragedies are created from lack of understanding and based solely on hate and disregard for other people and human lives. Let's do better.

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[barrel racer]

A big ado bout nothing.  Q spoke up because they were afraid of losing viewers.  Still don't know what it was about.

[Carmie]

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@LuisaMoscot wrote:
I believe it was a young person that perhaps has heard the song and was not aware of how it was used in the war movie. We are human and we make bad mistakes at times. 😇

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It wasn't a song.  The words are taken from a character who is an Asian sex worker in Vietnam soliciting an American soldier.

Young people have heard this if they're on social media.  The words have been used on South Park, and several TV sitcoms...and yes, I suppose several songs have used the lyrics.

It is the same as using the " N" word.  We hear it in music, movies, on TV, etc, but this word should never be used by a corporation to sell anything or be apart of any correspondence.

There is no excuse for this.  QVC pays people to know better.

[Linda0215]

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@HalloweenGal53 wrote:
I am going to share my experience of why I believe this was an intentional slur. Emails like this aren't just randomly sent on a Friday morning. Marketing emails, social media postings, all of those types of marketing tools are planned months in advance and are added to what's known as a content calendar. One random person doesn't just send out an email that hasn't been planned and tweaked and worded way in advance. There are multiple sets of eyes on that calendar before anything is released to the public, especially in a corporation as large as QVC, so there's no doubt somebody would've pointed out what a bad idea that was if it had really been an innocent mistake and added to the marketing plan. That's also why it is exceedingly rare that there are grammatical errors or mistakes in marketing postings or emails because many people proofread and look it over before it ever gets released. It smacks to me of someone who was disgruntled and perhaps was fired or was quitting and decided to sabotage a scheduled email on their way out the door. It's especially pointed given that Ami is an Asian woman. Since it seems like there are people here who don't understand the connotations of that slur or where it comes from, the person who did it probably figured they'd be out the door before it was caught. Or that there would be this kind of uproar and argument over whether it was purposeful or just a grammatical error. Which it most definitely was not. Anyway, that's my two cents from the marketing angle.

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@HalloweenGal53  This post, 💯.  After reading a fair amount of posts on this subject and aside from the fact that this email was highly offensive, the one question I've had since the beginning is how in the world did it ever get approved for publication?  We've all worked in business and we know corporations spend a ton of money ensuring marketing communications pass the smell test. How did this get by their teams?  Wasn't there one person in Studio Park that recognized that this was just plain wrong and put the brakes on it?  I think a whole lot of people are in a whole lot of trouble. And rightly so. 

[Mersha]

@Linda0215   I agree.

As another poster offered earlier, in regard to company marketing, I would think an item would cross many desks before it made it to the customer base.

It truly is amazing no one caught this.

Hopefully, they will be more prudent in the future.

[Carmie]

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@barrel racer wrote:

A big ado bout nothing.  Q spoke up because they were afraid of losing viewers.  Still don't know what it was about.

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Why would you say a big ado about nothing when you say you have no idea what it was about? 

Since you don't have a clue, what makes you think you are qualified to say it was about nothing?

Ethnic and racial equality is a big deal and there is no place and no excuses for a breech by anyone, let alone a big corporation.

I am cutting the Q a break believing the president applolgized because it was the right thing to do...and it was.

[Northray]

Yep, I got it too.  Was surprised as I didn't know a thing about it.  Missed the controversy, so I came on here just now to see what happened.  I'm not always on here checking the forums everyday and whatnot, so I missed it. 

Wow, gotta say what a faux pas if indeed that's what it was.

[Nomad5]

People need to lighten up. Mygosh.  Everyone is so huypersensitive

[50Mickey]

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@Nomad5 wrote:

People need to lighten up. Mygosh.  Everyone is so huypersensitive

@Nomad5    Have you not read all of the comments or are you just answering off the top of your head? Did you not see that this statement is a crude racial slur  directed at Asian women? You think this is OK and people just need to lighten up?  Unbelievable. 

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