From: "Paul Bowman" <paulbowman-AT-totalise.co.uk>
Subject: AUT: Re: Re: FW: Fwd: Biased comments by Tommy Hilfiger on "Oprah"
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 01:02:15 +0100


> I really hate to stick up for Mr. Hilfiger (he needs MY help?) but this is
> an urban legend which has been denied many times and yet keeps coming
> back. Besides everything else, would someone like Hilfiger ever say
> something like this on Oprah? I mean come on. Even Eminem doesn't admit he
> is misogynist. What I want is some proof that any famous American
> capitalist said he hates the people who buy his product.
> terry

I don't know about US examples. In Britain where the supersession of older
class attitudes by modern capitalist values is perhaps less advanced among
certain sections of the ruling class, there was such an example in the late
80s. Gerard Ratner, the CE and main shareholder of a nationwide chain of
"value" jewelry shops was famously reported at an after dinner speach as
saying he would never dare buy any of his girlfriends jewelry from his chain
(Ratner's) as everbody knew they sold mostly "absolute rubbish". Despite
desparate attempts at damage limitation including jettisoning Ratner
himself, and a name change the chain nearly went under (I belive it survives
today as Hill Samuels, although it doesn't do much jewelry these days). It
wasn't so much that people who used to shop at Ratner's didn't know they
were cheap mass production jewellers, more their anger at the man's
arrogance and cheek.



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