Slashdot Mirror
Brazil Retailer Using Facebook Likes On Its Clothing Hangers
TheGift73 writes "Retailer, C&A, is putting 'real-time Likes' counters on its hangers in locations around Brazil. The Like data is taken from C&A's Facebook page, where the company has listed its various wares for people to interact with. When a person Likes an item, that Like shows up on the hanger. It is meant to help customers with purchasing decisions. If they are unsure of one item, they can see how many people online think the product is a good buy."
WoW, I wonder who thought that up.
It was thought up by someone who lacks the basic self-esteem required to choose their own clothing.
You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
Fashion is always about wearing things other people find good looking.
You mean pretty much everyone? Because girls go out shopping together, either with friends or their boyfriends so that they can get their opinions on how something look. Likewise, many times men have their girlfriend or wife buy them clothes.
And you know what, there is nothing wrong with that. It's socializing and often in life it's good to get other people's opinion on things because most of the time your own are self-constrained and wrong. I guess in introvert geeks mind asking other people for help shames them as they feel it's some kind of competition to be aware and knowledgeable about everything. In normal people's mind it's ok and actually makes them feel good that someone else values their opinion. This is basic human socializing.
I've always found "I don't care how I look" to be the geek equivalent of the general public's "I don't understand maths". Both are shouted proudly, to separate oneself from the other group (those vapid socialites who base everything on appearance/those sweaty geeks who spend their lives in the basement with lines of code rather than people), when really neither are attitudes to be proud of. Of course there are times when there's no harm in looking a mess, but that's rarely what people seem to mean - it's often more of a day-to-day lack of care.
Sure, in an ideal world, people wouldn't judge on appearance, but that's not the planet we live on - there's no need to be uncomfortable, or look like a corporate drone, or even stand out particularly if you don't want to, but a high quality pair of jeans (the difference between good and crappy is vastly noticeable, even if you can't put your finger on exactly why that is) paired with a well-fitted button down shirt, a decent belt, and a good pair of shoes takes no more real effort than cargo pants and a t-shirt. Both are socially acceptable, but the former will immediately make a better impression on pretty much everyone you meet - they're better disposed to you, you feel more confident as a result, and so it goes on. The latter, to most people, would be the equivalent of needing to take out your phone to calculate a simple tip while you're out to dinner with a bunch of engineers - again it'd probably pass without comment, but it'd leave a subtle negative impression and modify people's disposition (conscious or otherwise) towards you as a result.
It was thought up by a marketing dweeb who thinks they can artificially increase the perceived popularity of higher margin items.
Log in or piss off.
But tfa is about people getting recommendations from complete strangers. And imho, this is a whole new level of needy.
Don't forget that this can also be used to determine what not to buy. A lot of people like this? Then I'm not going to buy it because I don't want to look like everyone else. Now, where's the rack that's beta testing the new "Don't Like" button?