Public Relations Princess

Target's Point of No Return Policy

I hate to keep harping on Target, but it looks as if they are STILL not bending to public opinion about their decidedly non-customer friendly "return" policy. I would even go so far as to say the policy is, "let's make it as hard as possible to return ANYTHING policy."

A little background: About a year ago, Target's return policy changed. Now, any purchase over 90 days (receipt or not) cannot be returned. Even if the customer lives far away, or even if they can prove they purchased it through credit card records. Even if the box hasn't been opened. Even if the gift was a duplicate purchased through a wedding gift registry. I could go on, but the folks at ConsumerAffairs.com have allowed Target's own customers to rant on its site for a long time. Just click on over and give it a read. You'll see what I'm talking about.

I still shop at Target for some stuff, but since this return policy has been instituted, I would think twice about registering for wedding gifts there. I am engaged now, so this is a real decision I am making, not just some arbitrary "threat." Where will my dozens of wedding guests go to buy gifts? A place where I could not return unopened duplicates without a receipt? I think not.

Amazon "Gay book title glitch" raises censorship questions

Internet book giant Amazon.com raised ire and eyebrows last week over a decision to simultaneously pull the rankings of dozens of gay and lesbian-themed books from its vaunted rankings algorithyms. The net result: Many mainstream books that happen to have gay characters and describe gay sex scenes are now ranked in the "adult" category, while equally racy heterosexual romance standards are left untouched and still maintain their ranking status. Gawker has a great description of the ironic decision by Amazon to re-categorize these books.

This decision seems like a dumb public affairs blunder by Amazon, one that could have probably been prevented. Did they think that such a move would not be noticed by the authors? If you have ever met an author, you know that for a time, they become mildly obsessed by the up-and-down seesaw of their books' rankings on Amazon.

This situation underscores perfectly the role of public relations professionals in the board room, or the obvious lack thereof in this situation. A good public relations professional would have recommended research on public perception of gay literature, and possibly even gathered some of the affected authors to warn them of the changes in advance. An even smarter move would have been to strongly recommend against the changes, citing a little thing we call the First Amendment to the Constitution.

To make matters worse, the response from Amazon was uncoordinated, with low-level customer sevice reps forced to cover Amazon's giant bee-hind with statements like the one Mark Probst got. Then, Google reps decided it was a "glitch." Make up your minds, people. As of Sunday night, there are still books that have not had their rankings restored.

Revlon Beyond Natural: Beyond the Pale!

It is pretty rare that I find a product that is so defective that I feel compelled to write an entire post about it. Revlon's "Beyond Natural" Cream to Powder is one of those products.

My daughter and I both use the same color palette of eye shadows and both happened to run out at the same time, so I was unfortunate enough to have bought two of these "fail whales" at the same time.

The concept of the eye shadow is to fully cover the eyelid with the cream, which is easy to apply. But then, if it's supposed to turn more powdery and be anti-crease, then it fails that test miserably. Basically, it's so greasy that it never forms a powder, and it also makes your eyeliner impossible to apply (or stay on) and the simple act of blinking can cause your mascara to run and make lines on your eyelid.
I paid $8.00 apiece for these useless eye shadow compacts. Revlon, if you're listening, please contact me at claire.celsi (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know when and how I can get a refund. I would also love to know who Revlon tested this stuff with. It's probably one of the worst cosmetics products I have ever used. I am writing reviews on every Web site I can find to try to warn other women not to waste their money.