M&S

Can you hazard a guess as to why, Dan?

“nora shop where you like, I’m not sure why you are getting so cross”

I’m really not sure how you’re getting the idea that I’m ‘cross’? That’s the kind of airy, don’t-engage-with-the-points dismissal I’m more used to getting from men by the way. And I guess you didn’t see the deleted stuff, but anyway..I‘m just trying to point out who is apparently being forgotten in this - low-paid female workers who have no say in company policy, many of whom won’t even be aware of what’s being discussed here. Not their fault.

I’m not attacking anyone for their decisions. It’s your prerogative where you shop too. I just believe PERSONALLY that are other factors at play right now.

My local branch of Peacocks is holding a closing down sale. This will be the second time since 2008. I'd rather support them, they have seperate men and women's changing rooms.

I think the way businesses treat customers is key.

I've also avoided JL since they treated me like shit, when they outsourced their customer services to Capita. Fuck that.

I've only got so much money and I'd like to support UK businesses that don't look down on me.

nora shop where you like, I’m not sure why you are getting so cross

We’re not bullying or cancelling people who still want to shop there, some of us are just choosing not to spend our money with retailers who think its ok to publish unsavoury reviews and who promote mixed sex changing facilities and to spend it elsewhere.

Nora, I used to shop at M&S every week and bought most of my clothes from there at one time. Last year I found out just how much contempt this business had for it core customers. Why on earth would I give it any of my hard earned income now when plenty of other alternatives are available?

I've only got one monthly budget for food, grocies, clothes etc. If I choose to spend that at a retailer that isn't M&S, I'm still supporting the UK workforce, and it'll still be a workforce that will be largely female.

I prefer to support the businesses that don't look down on me.

“So you think those perverts who wanked on stuff and put it back on the shelf for others to buy wont do the same via post?“

I’m not sure what your point is, unless uou’re suggesting we make all our own clothes - the same will be true of every single clothing company out there. What would you suggest companies do?

“if M&S had any respect for their core customer base, perhaps their employees wouldn't be so worried about losing their jobs.”

Every company in the frickin’ country has employees worried about losing their jobs. We’re on an economic precipice, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the 1930s. Right now - right now, mark you, for the hard of understanding, my solidarity is with those employees. That doesn’t make me evil, or bad, or abandoning women’s rights, just pragmatic about which battles (like education, all-women shortlists, crowdfunding appeals & defences etc) are the best placed to be fought right now without throwing lower-paid women, who have FAMILIES TO SUPPORT on the scrapheap. If anyone thinks I’m a bad person for thinking that, knock yourself out. We’re allowed to disagree.

I was just the thinking the other day that it’s been a year since I started my boycott against M&S. I’ll never shop with them again, and I’ve gone from going in at least 3 x weekly and to them not being on my retail/food radar at all.

They told me and other women to fuck off. So we did.

I have huge sympathy for women who work in M&S - double whammy of Covid and falling numbers in the business.
However, the primary responsibility for those women's jobs lies with the management of M&S.

Who have, as I said, shown by their actions, that they have no great concerns for their core customers (mainly women) nor their employees (mainly women).

And too late I've realised that this wee check will have random lingerie ads popping up everywhere for me now. 🙈

Interesting they’ve removed the sex of the reviewer.

M&S can go to hell. I've avoided it for a year.

www.marksandspencer.com/cotton-blend-lace-miami-knickers/p/clp60256046?color=BRIGHTCORAL

Oh crap @Clymene you're right..🤢

Always good to know your pants "keep everything in place". 😣

The changing rooms are closed altogether right now, so the stuff ‘people’ like to get up to in them isn’t an immediate issue
So you think those perverts who wanked on stuff and put it back on the shelf for others to buy wont do the same via post? Ok maybe not knickers right now, plenty of other clothes. It's the wanking and knowing women will touch it that's the thrill apparently. The item of clothing is secondary.

M&S core customers - did they consider who the majority of customers are, and how the fetish reviews would go down with them?

www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/18302422.couples-shock-treatment-glasgow-m-s-store-changing-room/

noraclavicle I feel very sorry for all the workers that are concerned for their jobs. However all clothes and food stores have predominantly female work forces so switching to different retailers doesn’t mean we’re not supporting female retail workers.

My boycott continues. I popped into our local one on Saturday for the first time in months, just to get an experience of a shop before lockdown (it's a small town, and that's as good as it gets here). They did actually have some nice things: they've upped their game, definitely, but I deliberately didn't buy anything.

Even if I'd needed something I wouldn't have bought it from M&S, after the way they responded to us last year.

And I would say @noraclavicle that if M&S had any respect for their core customer base, perhaps their employees wouldn't be so worried about losing their jobs.

Brand loyalty is such a valuable thing. Brands like M&S know this - it's what their advertising is based on. Unfortunately they seem unable to translate that into customer care which seems to be unhappily driven by social media. It's a mistake to take brand loyalty for granted as they are now finding out to their cost. But that isn't the fault of the women who are actively boycotting them, it's the fault of M&S.

I’d say this:

1. The changing rooms are closed altogether right now, so the stuff ‘people’ like to get up to in them isn’t an immediate issue

1. We’re on the verge of Lockdown 2 - the checkout lady I spoke to today is terrified for her job, as are thousands of her colleagues

1. Number 2 overrides everything else right now in the real world, so I’m going to try & support the low-paid women like her and her colleagues by continuing to shop there & hold the other fight for another day.

You lot are obviously in charge of your own actions, but I’m not inclined right now to cut off noses to spite faces, as it were.

I agree, I used to be a regular customer, but haven't bought anything from them since they decided it was fine to allow perverts into the women's changing rooms. Same thing with John Lewis. I was surprised by how many different sources of food and clothing were available once I'd cut out the misogynists.