PR disasters thread 4

[AtIusvue]

One stop shop for all As ever, Archewell, Meg n Harry disasters

Seems they assessed he was a flight risk - fucking off to ME protected by his mates.

This is a really good point. I was just reading an article about the collapse of Pat Mcgarth labs.

So obviously Pat is the complete opposite of Meg - an expert in her field for decades, the most respected/creative make up artist around. She also used high quality materials and worked hard to make really different and innovative products.

BUT the article I read, glaring problems which came from their inability to work with suppliers …meant that after the maison margelia show….with the glass skin/doll look, it took over a year for them to bring out their own product. In the meantime, influencers were all over it and by the time pat came out with the glass skin product…everyone was over it.

Also, the article stated that Pat had to have a say on EVERYTHING. She wouldn’t let a press release or anything go out, until she read it etc. it seems, as amazing as she is, she just didn’t know how to run a business. It reminded me of Megs. You can see Meg does the press releases (word salad/spelling mistakes almost every release), leads the aesthetics/photography which is all dated. Meg can’t seem to let go. But she also didn’t tie in WLM with the timing of As ever…so missed the boat.

NYT:

‘In interviews since December, five former Pat McGrath Cosmetics employees described having been brought into the company with no formal titles and no specific job descriptions. They emphasized that Ms. McGrath made every decision, despite her lack of financial and operational experience. She approved every social post, creative campaign and piece of email marketing, even when she was out of the office — for several months each year — at fashion shows and photo shoots.
Meetings took place at all hours to accommodate her schedule. And yet, former employees said they were dazzled by Ms. McGrath’s talent. They endured the stress and sleeplessness for the privilege of working with a star.
…..

While Charlotte Tilbury was rising, Ms. McGrath was creating viral moments unattached to her products. The ultimate example was the glass-skin makeup for a Maison Margiela fashion show in January 2024. Fans who wanted to recreate the effect at home were frustrated that Pat McGrath Labs didn’t have any products to satisfy the demand.
Ms. McGrath told Vogue that she had achieved the glassy finish by piling on skin care masks. Unfortunately, she waited a year to release the Glass 001 Artistry Mask. Who can remember what happened a year ago on a fashion runway? The viral moment had passed.’

”and yet employees were dazzled by her talent”

This quote stood out for me. Doubt any MM employees could say the same - more likely that they were terrified of her bullying / belittling / blaming / icing out…..

When real chefs launch products there may well be resulting sales but this trend does not continue for years and years. When a non chef " hostess" launches products it's an even bigger gamble. She was trading on their titles. Now she is constantly trying to sell the same old crap.

I wonder if H&M will be having an emergency marketing strategy meeting and concluding that they should drop the titles and any association with BRF…..

Well they've kept up associations with equally dodgy people.

I presume she slapped a load of stuff on her credit card and didn't pay the bill - so now it's accrued interest as well

Didn't Fergie used to do this? I remember stories in the day of her charging hotels and shopping sprees and then simply not paying

I think that Meghan's product has a bit of a credibility gap between her marketing image and her actual products.

Marketing image was of local, small batch carefully curated products in pretty packaging with coy hints that the raw materials came from her garden

Product reality was factory produced, white label upf foods with a lot of packet mixes and runny jams of uncertain origins.

So it was unclear who her target buyer was? Obviously the early shipments were snapped up by influencers and journalists giving her the big launch. But who did she think would be her repeat buyers?

They weren't really cheap enough to appeal to regular shoppers or even to do a cheap and cheerful guest-collaboration like the Bridgerton range did with Primark

But they weren't exclusive products of small batch, organic products to appeal as to the LA wealthy or as gift purchases like King Charles selling his Highgrove organic products in gift shops and Fortnums etc

I think this lack of clarity undermined AS - it was sold as a premium product with keepsake packaging but done on the cheap. She also clearly didn't have her supply chain properly organised - everything needed to be ready to coordinate with the WLM show - now she has a load of products and a cookbook but no WLM to showcase them and drive sales.

Who's gonna stand bail, do you think?

You don't usually have to pay for bail in the UK - it's more usual that you are released with bail conditions - for example - regular reporting to the police station, surrender of passport, requirement to live at a particular address, prohibitions from contacting witnesses etc

Occasionally a court can impose a surety - a pledge of money that has to be paid if you fail to appear.

As has been said, that is not how it works in the UK - generally there is no financial payment requirement as a condition of being released on police bail. Conditions such as “You must stay at your usual place of residence and report regularly to your local police station” are common, with the threat of being remanded in custody if you don’t comply, but money payments are unlikely.

One thing about this case - the Thames Valley Police will be bending over backwards to make sure they have every i dotted and t crossed in respect to process on this case given it’s so high profile and nobody wants their actions to be invalidated by a process breach. Part of that will be making sure that Andrew is given no special treatment. This works both ways: so, he is arrested as that is the usual police procedure when executing a search warrant and because it enables you to interview the suspect without needing their consent - but it also means that they must be interviewed under caution and so have the option of responding “No Comment” to every question you ask them. But it also means if the police will have to apply their normal process when dealing with “white collar” types of crime like this - so, if other people accused of essentially economic crimes like fraud or insider dealing are released on police bail,they would need to have an objectively justifiable reason to treat Andrew differently. I await developments with interest!

Also, in my experience, unlike the impression you get from show like “24 hours in Police Custody”, in complicated white collar fraud cases it is usual for the suspect to be arrested, search warrants executed and the suspect interviewed, and then released on police bail while investigations continue (the police having secured the primary evidence they want and so to continue their investigation). It can take a long time - weeks or even months - to get to the stage where the suspect is charged. So I would not be surprised if Andrew is released tomorrow without charge, and would not read from that that no charges are to be expected. (If he is charged tomorrow, the police must feel they already have a slam dunk case against him….of course more charges can then follow once they go through the material they uncover from their searches).

For the posters who say no-one talks about the Royal family in their normal lives - the news of Andrew’s arrest was a hot topic of conversation at my office today! As you might expect, no-one had a shred of sympathy for him. There was general satisfaction that due process was being applied and it was being made clear that no-one is above the law.

that makes sense - I just didn’t realise it would be possible to get a credit limit high enough to rack up millions in credit. Shows how little I know about how the other half live I guess!

If she has got herself into credit card debt that’s really bad, I can’t imagine Amex being fobbed off easily, even if you are a duchess…

Not a chance, they’ll cling onto those titles until they’re forcibly removed from them. It’s their only claim to importance and relevance!

I suspect they will studiously ignore this (which in itself would be funny given their propensity to comment and clap back over the slightest little thing). Remember they have no moral high ground here, Harry has never denounced Andrew’s behaviour despite everything else he’s complained about publicly.

If you look at the credit allowed to normal people then I don't think it is much different. The more credit people use the more they are allowed, I had a friend with 80k on credit on a NMW job- moving money around she appeared more solvent than she was.

Very true. I wonder why.

And I wonder …why ? Why ? Why ? …they ran away … my little runaway….

Reading an article linked in one of the other threads, the Daily Mail was listing all the issues to befall the Monarchy in modern times. They write about issues with not flying the flag at half mast after Diana's death and funding for Windsor Castle and then write this

And later there was the spectacle of Prince Harry's spiteful exit from royal life, domestic tantrums and his venomous treatment of his own family

And this is what they are against now, something they did in the past that is no longer seen as finding freedom.

(I'm not sure I explained that correctly, it has been a long night shift!)

Their silence on Andrew is deafening, you would think they’d love the chance to comment on how awful the Royals are. Maybe they realise the knew too much and that ship has sailed?

Possibly. Or, also possibly, they have been advised, as presumably the rest of the family have been, not to do anything that might prejudice further investigations.

They listen to advice?!

Remember they have no moral high ground here, Harry has never denounced Andrew’s behaviour despite everything else he’s complained about publicly

Given that they said quite plainly that silence is complicity I'd have to agree, @elessar - though doubtless the usual royal "I didn't know" will be rolled out if convenient

Sorry but I find it utterly ludicrous and hilarious, in the light of yesterday’s events, that a thread titled “PR disasters” keeps popping up on the RF board, and you are all still wanging on about H and M!

Did you miss that photo of Andrew being driven back home after being interrogated by police last night?

😂😂😂

It is possible to be interested in two things at the same time. And who put you in charge anyway?

Because it is a rolling thread about H&M.

Not claiming to be in charge! Just commenting, same as you do on many other RF threads.