On April 2nd, Reese Witherspoon’s Southern lifestyle label Draper James made a nice offer: a free Draper James dress to any teacher who applied. When I heard of that deal, I thought it sounded kind of silly (a free dress in the middle of a pandemic, really?), but I guess I underestimated the fact that there are many teachers who would simply like a cute, free dress. So, long story short, almost one million teachers filled out the application, which included not only their personal information (name, address) but also some kind of proof that they were a teacher (in most cases, a photo of their school badge or school ID). The problem was that Reese and the Draper James team also underestimated teachers’ desire for a cute free dress. They were only planning on giving away about 250 dresses. Again, they got a million applications.
Reese Witherspoon‘s fashion brand Draper James announced it would be gifting free dresses to teachers to thank them for their tireless efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. Education professionals were directed to an online application form with a deadline, and told that “winners” would be notified the following week and sent their dresses “while supplies last.” But while Draper James’ initial announcement was well-intentioned and met with much fanfare, the 30-person company — which had planned to distribute 250 dresses in total — seemed to have underestimated just how many teachers would take them up on the offer. There are more than three million public school teachers in the US alone.
According to the New York Times, “the application form crashed almost immediately. Just days after the original Instagram post appeared, it had been viewed more than 400,000 times. Teachers were emailing one another and sharing it online. By the close of the application period, Draper James had almost one million applications — which was approximately seven times the total number of dresses they had sold in 2019.”
Now, teachers who assumed they were entering a giveaway rather than a raffle — and who had to share photos of their school IDs and their work email addresses in order to apply — are sharing their frustration on social media. “Out of 535 teachers on a social media page on FB, not even one got a free @draperjames dress! What in the what??,” one person tweeted. “All of us received codes for either 20-30% off codes. Can’t even afford the dresses with a discount! Great marketing ploy!🤪🤷♀️”
“We felt like we moved too quickly and didn’t anticipate the volume of the response,” Draper James’ senior vice president for brand marketing and creative, Marissa Cooley, told the Times. “We were really overwhelmed. It was way more volume than the company had ever seen. We expected the single digit thousands.”
According to the publication, applicants received a follow-up email from Draper James last weekend, stating that the brand had made a donation to an organization supplying teachers and students with school necessities. The company added that it was “actively working on expanding our offerings, both internally and with outside retail partners who were also inspired by your stories and want to join in honoring your community, and we ask for your patience while we organize this effort.”
I would hope – and I sincerely mean this – that Reese Witherspoon understands that she needs to pay out of pocket to manufacture hundreds of thousands of Draper James dresses in a short time so that most of these teachers can get a free dress. I’m not saying that every teacher who applied should absolutely get a new dress, but Reese should aim for half. She should aim for 400K to 500K dresses given away. I think that’s completely reasonable, given the outpouring of interest in this giveaway. I really, really hope that Reese and her people won’t just act like this was all some misunderstanding and that of course she will only give away 250 dresses, sorry not sorry. She wanted a good PR hit and it blew up in her face. Time to make it right, Reese!
Photos courtesy of Draper James IG.
I’m sure Reese meant well but 250 dresses is a ridiculously small number.
1 million is too high though, you can’t make that many without slave labour in packed sweatshops… They should give away gift cards
Gift cards is a smart idea to help make this right.
Way, way too high! She wasn’t thinking it through and should have made it a raffle or the first 300 folks who submit their names.
Easy peasy.
@arpeggi — came to say that. You can’t make a million dresses (or half a million as suggested here) without some seriously cheap labor. 🙁
Right, giving a million free dresses is ridiculous. It’s a dumb promotion, not a court issued settlement. Most commerce give always aren’t what they seem—hence the phrase, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. I have also never won anything from publishers clearing house or from the inside bottle cap of a Coca Cola giveaway. They said ‘ while supplies last’ and they’re a small scale operation. Yes, it should have been clarified as a raffle, but they didn’t so boohoo. She gave people something to complain about, so there’s that.
Gift cards that can be used someplace else would work, but not to buy her brand. Draper James is too expensive for a lot of working class people. Teachers can’t afford it unless they have other money.
Why didn’t they do what all PR firms do and say “quantities limited” instead of promising?
To me, it sounds like she is using someone who doesn’t know marketing, like a relative or something. It’s a dumb mistake. I’m not in marketing and even I know that.
Seriously NO ONE at DJ thought more then single digit thousands across USA teachers would want a free dress? In my town (less then 100,000) alone I guarantee there would be more than 250 teachers wanting a free dress.
Do they lack common sense and life experience at DJ?
What an idiot social media team to suggest that. Obviously it should have been first 250 teachers to sign up get dress. No brainer.
Exactly. Dumb marketing “team”.
I have a jeweler friend whose giving away one piece. The problem is she said “to one of our 1st responders”. IMO, we can ALL be heroes to someone. Staying connecting w a friend in the edge of loneliness…so many ways to reach out. YES teachers & health care workers are on the front lines, but the everyone is a hero is what we need right now!
@ Yeahbutt Such a good point. I am a psychotherapist (some days just a psycho! LOL). I have a few clients who work in hospitals right now. I have given them free sessions (video/phone calls) for the duration of this pandemic. I figured that is what I can do myself. Since I cannot sew or bake.
Seriously? They were only planning on giving away 250 dresses? Who was advising them? That seems very naive.
I think these celeb based entrepreneurs like Goop, Draper James, etc operate on a scarcity model; they never stock enough for everyone to get one, and the coveted “sold out” status can technically be achieved for whatever product they are promoting… Like vagina candles. Perhaps she applied this model to her altruistic effort, not thinking of of how it would blow out demand. I like Reese, so yeah, I hope she’s able to get all those VERY deserving teachers a dress!! She is good to have remembered them
And yet they say, “We expected the single digit thousands” when it comes to responses to the give away. So they knew they only had 250 dresses to give away, and they were still hoping/planning on getting the full contact information of thousands of teachers to add to their mailing list. That’s shady. Like if they really just wanted to do a good deed and get the PR for it, stop taking applications once you’ve gotten to 250. The fact that they INTENDED to harvest the data of thousands of teachers proves that this was primarily a way to grow their mailing list. It wasn’t just a good deed to do that would also have positive PR implications, it wasn’t just a marketing ploy to get people to talk about the brand, they specifically wanted the contact information of thousands of people and thought that a “free dress giveaway!” was the best way to get thousands of people to volunteer up their personal information. Shady, shady, shady.
Yeah, I think this is a good point. They only expected single-digit thousands, but they didn’t have enough dresses even for that and they didn’t make it clear what the limit was. I also think this was more of an attempt to mine teachers personal data, which is shameful. Especially right now when teachers (and the rest of the world) have a lot on their plates.
How many people is she going to sell that list? She will become very wealthy from that data.
She has a super specific, and thus highly valuable, set of data right now: the full names, address, and email address of teachers in America, complete with photos of their various ID which will have more information about where they work and exactly what their title is. That’s valuable information to do targeted marketing with.
@Amytoo you make a good point. It would be terrible if it was a ploy to just mine data.
With all of the cyber security, phishing and data mining training that every professional receives on a regular basis – how does anyone send copies of their employer provided credentials to a raffle online?
The honorable thing for DJ to do would be to destroy every shred of that information, delete those names from their email lists and publically announce that they have protected every participants data.
That’s what I’m taking away from all of this: they now have sooooo many people’s personally identifying info and they are giving nothing back except, probably, a lot of spammy email. Also, does anyone even know how good Dealer James is with info security? So many of these fashion retailers that aim to be high end are super stupid, lazy, and negligent with infosec. I wouldn’t give them all my info like that for a stupid dress. They can now tie your personal internet presence to your career-related internet presence, and don’t believe they can’t build an integrated profile of you because they can. Then, it can get hacked and criminals now have an integrated, very up-to-date profile of you. That’s what people just won, actually. 🙁
250 is A LOT for a giveaway.
Yeah this blew up fast and it makes me scratch my head because……what did she think was going to happen? Draper James promoted it on their Instagram. I think Today or GMA did a bit on the giveaway. It was all over FB. etc. they thought they were going to get 250 responses?
Like, I can understand that she didn’t expect to give away a million dresses, but you would think that would have been considered BEFORE announcing this.
250 is a reasonable number for a small company.
Perhaps people should be more understanding.
Ali, if they started this saying they’d give away 250 we’d all understand. Instead they lied and got everyone’s personal information.
They didn’t lie, they made a very poor judgement and created a PR nightmare. If the dresses are so expensive as you state below, they didn’t invent this whole thing to get the personal information of a million teachers who can’t afford their dresses. It was a mistake. A bad one. But a lie?
This was no mistake. They sent all those teachers coupons for 30% off. It was totally a ploy to get consumer information. They lied.
Exactly.
I agree, and I think almost anyone would agree that 250 is reasonable. Unfortunately they failed to set expectations correctly – both that there were so few and that it wasn’t guaranteed that applicants would get one -which is the issue here. Had they made that clear they would not be in this mess.
Exactly. I work in advertising and promotional design and for over a decade have had to incorporate into my artwork (ugly, but purposeful) legal disclaimer text, intended to prevent customers from getting confused about the rules of an offer and protect my clients/employer from being sued. Any reputable company has a lawyer glance over offer media before being released to the public, but clearly that step was skipped here. I’ll remember this and try not to grumble so much about the annoying delay when you wait for legal approval–you don’t want your impatience to piss off a million teachers or any big group of consumers like that.
If she only offered to teachers in one city, 250 might be reasonable.
But the company suckered hundreds of thousands of people to give personal information so the company can increase their mailing list, and sell their information. Frankly, it’s disgusting.
I will be appalled if RW does not personally spend to make sure most of these teachers get a fancy, only rich women can afford it, dress.
RW isn’t stupid. She just didn’t think a million people would complain and give her some incredibly bad publicity.
Taking advantage of teachers, offering them a gift then gaslighting them
Draper James is a disgusting organization.
That’s what I thought too, if she had only limited this to a specific city it probably wouldn’t have gotten so out of control and she would still look generous. The way she did it she gave away the expectation this was nationwide and for everyone.
DJ is hardly a fancy, rich person line – their dresses range from $75 to $175.
ETA: Don’t get me wrong, the promo was not at all well thought out and I’m not sure how she can make it right. Just saying this is not an exclusive brand.
@Melissa — it might not be exclusive for many, but as a teacher, I do not have a budget to spend $75 -$175 on a single dress. Most of my colleagues are in a similar position to me. Especially for a dress that looks like an Old Navy dress you could buy for $20. Her brand is exclusive to many teachers — whom she was targeting in a disingenuous way.
@ Dazed – my response was to the statement that it was a fancy, only rich people can afford it dress. I realize that most can’t pay that for one every work day of the week, myself included. Though I’m sure if they were really $20 Old Navy knock offs there would not have been the overwhelming response.
As I said, I believe the roll out was ill conceived and I agree with you on disingenuous – it does appear that the promotion did tag “while supplies last” and that the “winners” would be notified they had won, so the devil is in the details…or in this case, maybe the small print.
Agreed. Even if they could produce and ship them to teachers at $10 each, it would probably be enough to bankrupt her company. She promotes it quite a bit, but I believe there are only 3-4 stores and an online shop. The one in Nashville does a nice business, but it’s small like a boutique. This isn’t Nordstrom.
That being said, they could have splashed up their PR a bit and said something like “our plan was to give away 250 dresses, but because of the incredibly high interest, we will be giving away 2500.”
They sell Draper James at the giant Belk department store in my town. There might only be a few Draper James boutiques, but she’s selling the line at huge department stores as well.
Chiming in on where to get Draper James, I see her things on Nordstrom and just found out that she’s got some collaboration with Lands End.Maybe she could partner up with some of these other companies to at least offer a gift card or a discount or both??
Slightly off topic but my city had a fund for out of work Hospitality employees and you would get a $300 grant via PayPal or Venmo. We had to submit check stubs, driver’s license and our terminated/furloughed letter. They were supposed to start sending the payments out last week. A lot of people were notified they had received it, then 15 minutes later notified that it had been cancelled. Now the people in charge of the fund are deleting comments off their FB page, it’s crazy.
What the hell?!?
That sounds like straight up fraud. Maybe get the states AG involved.
I agree. It also says while supplies last, so get over it? It was a give away. They weren’t promised a dress. The company gave a donation to teachers after this. I don’t feel like anyone except the 250 names drawn are owed anything. While supplies last. If that weren’t in there then sure maybe. There are more important things teachers should be doing than complaining about a dress they didn’t win that they probably wouldn’t wear anyway.
@Lua – I assure you teachers *are* doing all kinds of important things right now, thank-you for your opinion. The teacher shaming on this thread has been overwhelming. Also, how do you know teachers wouldn’t wear a Draper James dress?
I don’t agree about the teacher shaming at all but honestly when you say FREE for ANYTHING people are going to come out in hoards. Remember when build a bear did that a couple years ago and it blew up in their faces and people legit got into fights about damn stuffed animals? Maybe they thought that little disclaimer would cover their butts but when you target a specific group of people like this, especially one that is already struggling in normal circumstances you are going to come out smelling like sh!t.
That’s my thought too. It said “while supplies last”. That is how ANY give away works.
Expecting a company to give away a MILLION free dresses is ridiculous. I don’t understand why people feel so entitled to free stuff. They did not say that anyone who wants a test, I mean dress, can get one.
hahahaha best comment ever.
thank you
but yeah 1m free dresses is insane.
Thank you, thank you! It’s kind of buried in there. 😉
Absolutely agree! Do we not have more pressing issues to be concerned about? I’m sorry you didn’t get your free dress (insert eyeroll). It said while supplies last.
I signed up for this. It said we’d get a free dress. Then there was an email saying we’d get a 30% off code. Then there was an email saying they gave away 250, yes only 250 dresses, and a discount code for 20%. It just got worse and worse. Even if they fit a high response, they only gave away 250? And then they changed the discount. Plus the dresses are very expensive for a teachers salary. I hate her now. This wasn’t about helping teachers at all. Now I keep trying to get off her stupid email list as I’m getting emails about dresses I can’t afford.
Same. I was able to easily unsubscribe though. It really irritated me that it went from a free dress to a coupon. Very scammy.
Super scammy. I feel for all the teachers who were suckered into this scheme.
Hate is a strong emotion.
I am a teacher and applied for the dress giveaway, as did many of my coworkers. Of course nobody I know got a dress. It was just all very misleading…we filled out this big form and it wasn’t until afterwards that we were told it was just a raffle for only 250 dresses. Instead of supporting teachers the whole thing ended up just being a time suck for a workforce who are already underpaid, overworked, and totally stressed with having to figure out how to learn a whole new set of online teaching skills on a dime!
Oh well, my business is events and now I have no business and no famous movie stars lining up to give me a free dress. And looks like we can both breathe because we’re here commenting, so there’s a lot worse stories out there right now. Personally if this went to anyone, it should have been nurses.
Darla – politely….I am sorry your events have been cancelled but your response to teachers is very dismissive. My work has not been cancelled, I work with at risk children who are highly impacted by school closures and have been working around the clock to make sure that they are connected with necessary resources (food, technology, well checks, WiFi etc…) which has involved interfacing with multiple government agencies in addition to learning how to lead instruction online with a glitchy, new platform. I am working more now that ever, 12 hour days or longer and this all while taking care of and supervising my own three children at home concurrently with these duties. Yes, absolutely nurses deserve to be recognized…but this is not a sum zero game. And yes…I am on this website reading and commenting…taking a few minutes each day to read some celebrity gossip as been a stress relief for me. I am sorry if you think my current situation doesn’t warrant an occasional break. These types of disrespectful attitudes towards teachers and the importance of their work – both in good times and bad – is beyond disheartening. No wonder the United Stares is experiencing a teacher shortage…
@Darla, I know several teachers who are right now working their asses off…harder than ever before. Making drives to visit kids from their cars, kids that they are terribly worried about, kids who don’t eat on the weekends, kids who they feel aren’t treated the best at home…so yeah, nurses should be lifted up right now (and always!) for sure, but so should our precious teachers. They are giving it their all and they don’t make half of what the nurses take home.
Oh Mandilynn, Thank you for all that you do. I love teachers and have long been lamenting the lack of respect the profession has gotten in recent years (decades?). I try to encourage every young person I know who seems to have a gift with kids to go into teaching because the shortage is indeed alarming.
I’m hoping a silver lining from this pandemic might be that more people appreciate just how much work it takes to educate our kids every day. Not just academically but socially and emotionally. I’m in awe of the strength, patience, creativity, energy, passion and stamina that the teachers I know have. Best to you.
“I am sorry your events have been cancelled but your response to teachers is very dismissive”
Hmmm. Dismissive you say?
Yeah my events haven’t been cancelled, my entire livelihood has been cancelled, and I have a family that depends on me. So come again? You’re getting paid and you still got your benefits and everyone is crying for you here. lol
@Darla – nurses are still getting paid and getting benefits…so they shouldn’t get dresses either then by your estimation…although you said nurses should get dressed but not teachers. I am extremely grateful that I am still able to work, and am horrified at the current unemployment rate. But there is no need to undermine anyone’s contributions to society right now with comments about who should be rewarded with something and who shouldn’t. I am sure you are under a lot of stress right now. I wish you well during these challenging times.
And not every teacher works in a school district and is still receiving pay and benefits. I work in a private special ed preschool. I can comment this morning because guess who has been semi laid off? I can clock in for 14 hours a week which is supposed to keep me eligible for partial unemployment. And we are being asked to get up to speed on teletherapy (I’m a speech pathologist, also teacher certified) while staying in contact with families, offering suggestions and material to work on objectives at home, figure out every possible type of platform for everyone of my kids because different classrooms have chosen different platforms, finish reports, continue to provide clinical supervision for a speech therapist, etc.etc. Oh yes and navigate signing up for unemployment. I have cowrokers whose entire paycheck will be going just for medical benefits. While struggling to see how I can cover monthly bills once my cushion is gone (very soon now).
Yeah, a dress isn’t going to make or break my world one way or the other but it was a lousy way to bring attention to the company. I looked that offer over very well and there was no one mention of a raffle or a a limit, just a free dress.
There’s no need to make suffering into a competition, Darla. Good lord…
I am a teacher who signed up for this and I agree with you that nurses and other med professionals have it so much worse now. Not sure why she picked teachers. Nurses/docs/med techs are hurting.
The “while supplies last” thing does imply a reasonable expectation that there will be some effort made to have supplies and as they only gave 250 they clearly had no good faith effort. Plus changing the % off in the discount. It was clearly poorly planned from the start. But hey she has a big teachers database now.
Everyone, clearly we should just go home because @Darla has won the Sympathy Olympics! Can’t everyone see she is THE #1 MOST SUFFERED WOMAN ALIVE?!? How dare you have concerns, her problems are so much worse!
Seriously though, Darla, don’t talk to people you know like this or they’ll stop speaking to you ASAP.
I, for one, would like to thank all the teachers working so hard to educate our kids through this crisis. I think you deserve a nice dress.
I’d say Reese is damn smart to short teachers as opposed to nurses. Apparently its okay to screw over teachers. Messing with nurses right now would end this little company.
Bad PR move. How many women teachers in the USA? They knew what they were about. They have a million teachers’ info to sell, or market to. They TOTALLY knew.
Now, maybe they didn’t expect a MILLION. But at least six figuires, and they only had 250 to give out? Kinda smarmy and underhanded.
HappyOften – thank you ❤️ Being told I don’t deserve a dress was definitely a response I did not anticipate 🤣 unfortunately though you are right…teachers are (especially in my state) easily targeted political punching bags! And if we ever try and stand up for ourselves the response I received from Darla is a pretty good indicator of what happens! However, there are lots of people from all kinds of backgrounds who are stepping up to serve during this crisis… I hope in due time we can find ways to honor and celebrate them all!
Being told you don’t deserve a dress? I must have said that in the same place I told you you don’t warrant an occasional break. You got yourself a lot of attention and accolades by inventing quotes though, congrats.
If they were to promise not to share the info they collected with anyone, I would be more inclined to buy this as an honest mistake. But they just hoovered up ALOT of personal information on a very specific demographic under less than honest circumstances with an expensive giveaway.
Information is money… I am less inclined than others to accept they had no idea their promotion was going to be misinterpreted. I am no longer as trusting in the ethics of businesses as I once was.
#shadyaf
My daughter said she now realizes that teachers absolutely deserve a significant raise when they start the next school year, she didn’t realize how much work it really was. Unfortunately, too many teachers are not given the appreciation or salaries they truly deserve. Yes, nurses are very important, especially right now, but we can support more than one group, it’s not an either or game. I think the difference is that everyone knows and sees the hard work nurses do, whereas with teachers, it’s mostly unseen, therefore not considered to be just as valuable.
All it would have taken: “the first 250 applicants…”
I’m shocked no one thought of what could go wrong here and covered themselves, or their boss. Wow. So, I’m half about, man that was stupid. And then half of me is like, you’re beside yourself because you aren’t getting a dress and you gave your address? Okay, well, you gave your address. And if you got a dress, you’d still have given your address. I’d shrug. But then I learned by about 10 there’s no free in this life.
But Reese needs to hire some pros. Even a really good and experienced corporate copywriter would have seen this coming a mile away and added in a few words to easily prevent.
Yes, I completely agree. Good marketing people would never have let this go through. This will be part of every marketing curriculum now!
YES! I came here to say this – the FIRST 250 to apply…simple as that. Probably helps that I’m a copywriter 😉
Yes this was a massive marketing FAIL.
They very clearly should have stated that it would be the first 250 applicants, or that it would be a random raffle you could enter, and that there would be 250 winners.
I think it was a nice idea that failed miserably, and everyone involved should have had some common sense when setting this up.
The company should have offered a free dress to the first 250 teachers who responded. Now they should give away as many dresses as possible, offer 50% off coupons to the rest of the applicants, offer an apology and make a donation to an education related charity.
Ya know this coronavirus thing has really made me re-evaluate celebrity culture.
I’ve always been a gossip hound but recently something inside of me has shifted subtly and all of a sudden I’m finding it kinda gross how people like Reese earn hundreds of millions of dollars for essentially doing what amounts to playing make-believe.
I think of our tiny country town and our sole supermarket running extending opening hours and offering free delivery to the elderly and our tiny district hospital and all of its tireless workers and you know what? Suddenly Im sickened and disgusted by the wage disparity between essential workers and Hollywood actors.
Reese, make good on your promise. Sheesh its the least you can do.
I agree with you about celebrities, I have definitely had a big change in opinion. Well, I always thought they were for the most part, arses, but I’m kind of disgusted by them now?
“Suddenly Im sickened and disgusted by the wage disparity between essential workers and Hollywood actors.”
Yeah. For sure. We’ll always want to be entertained, but they should really think long and hard about sitting down and shutting up and stop with all of this attention mongering. I think Affleck and what’s her name are two glaring examples. If I don’t see your ass during this pandemic, then that’s a good thing. Don’t have me thinking about you. Some of them have figured that out and gone to ground. They’re the smart ones.
Watercress, I hear you. I often feel the same way about most professional athletes. Granted, there are those who understand and acknowledge their privilege and seem mindful about using their platform for good but the fact remains many of them could slash their incomes by about 90% and still make more than most people can imagine. It’s just so very wrong.
Especially now as people worry about how they’ll pay rent and where their next meal might come from. I could weep but I’m afraid I wouldn’t stop.
I agree. I’m trying to keep an open mind and think of the ones that are doing good things…the free concerts on the internet, the entertainment they are providing and the charity work that I know many are doing. The Today show said today that Michael Che paid for an entire buildings rent this month in NYC and you know so many have provided masks/gowns/$$$. But, yes, please stay home and don’t do stupid $hit like this…how embarrassing. I’ve wanted to buy something off her site for awhile but can’t bring myself to spend the money and I make more than what a teacher makes, not much more, but I could probably afford it I am loathe to spend that amount on clothes. And now I won’t give this site one damn dime. Geez.
Reese is seriously photoshopped! Look at her upper arm! Fat stingy smug bitch! Just saying!
Is it really necessary to call her fat when she certainly isn’t fat? All promotional pictures are photoshopped.
Unhinged.
There are two photos of RW. You can’t see her upper arm in either one. Are you talking about that Mental Health Counseling ad? That’s not her.
Heh
Yes those pics are heavily Ps’d but Reese is adorable. I have always loved that she’s not anorexic.
The red hearts look like a coronavirus hot spots map.
hahaahaha, your comment is spot on!
I thought of that, too. It probably was an unintentional influence on whoever created that. Yikes.
@AJ
That’s exactly what I thought it was–conronavirus graphic.
After reading your comment, I scrolled back up and saw it was a DJ graphic.
Did they not do any basic research to determine how many teachers there actually are??
Research? Research is for peasants!
Everybody wants something for free. Especially in the times we’re in where finances may be scarce. While I agree they did not think through just how many teachers would be applying, how quickly and resolutely they handle this situation will determine if it blows up in their face. And people, let’s have some patience and understanding and not lead with anger and accusations. I may be naive, but I believe this simply got out of hand for them and it wasn’t just some shameful marketing ploy. If it turns out to be, then yes, anger and frustration is justifiable.
They clearly said, “offer valid while supplies last”.
While that may be so, I doubt they would have gotten the number of responses they did had the ad mentioned there were only 250, especially if it stated the first 250 applicants as opposed to random applicants. Instead, they have a dearth of info out on people to whom they can send emails, etc and I don’t know if DJ stated that it would not passed on or not, as that is another consideration. I can’t say I blame the ladies who spent their time filling out the forms to be treated thusly.
I agree with you on the response being greater because of the assumption that everyone would be getting a freebie.
I’m paranoid as hell these days, there is no chance I fill out a lengthy form and provide my employer provided credentials to someone for a free article of clothing.
Exactly lol. They had 250.
I think you’ve nailed it with your commentary on this dress debacle: she was trying to do something not out of pure disinterest but just because she wanted a PR hit. And that’s showing
The dress thing was dumb anyway. They should have just donated money or perhaps had their manufacturer start making masks.
This. Draper James masks in their boring patterns lol. With matching scrunchies and head scarves.
Lol, love this.
What I don’t understand is why they didn’t shut down or change the online form as soon as they realized there were so many applications…
Well if they had done that , they wouldn’t have been able to data mine a million teacher’s info 😏
I have a mildly popular account in a niche corner of IG and even I know that giveaway rules need to be well thought out in advance and made very clear to entrants. GEEZ, Reese.
Yes. When I worked in advertising and any clients wanted to do stuff like this we would brace ourselves for the hassle of getting the legal teams very heavily involved.
Yes, and they’re not a fly-by-night company. I’m sure Reese has a PR team and a legal team. This feels shady because even people outside of the retail PR industry can see the flaws in this plan.
Why was it so hard to say hey free dresses for the first 250 teachers? Oh because they’re lazy.
I run a fashion business and to give away a free dress for everyone who applied wouldn’t be possible, it would cost them multiple millions just to manufacture them. Not to mention with retail stores temporarily closing and online sales hitting the skids since lockdown, they would probably go bankrupt. I don’t know much about this company but I do know most fashion business were struggling to keep their head above water even before coronageddon. To put into context Asos turn over something like £3billion last year and only made £4million profit. People love to assume that big brands have all the money in the world but they really don’t. Aiming to give away 500k dresses would not be possible, especially as manufacturers have probably gone into lockdown. I’ll assume they manufacture in China, so that wouldn’t be possible at the moment. They should have just made it clear that they were giving dresses to the first 250 people that apply and maybe give the rest a discount code. People can’t get mad about not winning a competition, I would never expect to win anyway.
I agree with you…the problem was it wasn’t advertised as a competition. The script read that *all* teachers who applied would get a dress. In the fine print it did read while supplies last but there were no parameters placed on that. Trust me…teachers aren’t unreasonable, greedy people. They were just told if you fill out this form you will get a free dress, so they did. But then they didn’t get a free dress, and this company collected all their data which they are now free to misuse.
I think they should just email all those who applied with a discount code, then they atleast get something. I think they will learn their lesson for next time and hopefully not mess it up again.
I’m also confused by the “greedy teacher” narrative floating around the comments right now. Did I accidentally click on the Wall Street Journal?
People are frustrated and that’s fair, especially since this highlights the economic disparity between a Rich white Lady and people willing to send out a copy of personal ID to get one free item of clothing.
oh hahhahahahhahahhahah!
While I agree this was not handled correctly and the wording should have been a little different however, I don’t see Queen B giving away anything from her Adidas line, or Kristin Cavallari giving away something. Why don’t the companies that make the scrub outfits or the shoes that first responders wear have a give away? At least she tried to do a little something for a special group of people which is more than I can say for other companies.
My goodness we have become such an unforgiving society. This was clearly a mistake, not a purposeful lie designed to hurt people. Have you never made a mistake? Also, it’s completely unreasonable to expect DJ to produce hundreds of thousands of dresses on the fly. They are a small business and couldn’t pull it off in normal times – it’s outrageous to think they could do it during a pandemic.
This world would be a much better place with some more grace and understanding. Geez.
When the giveaway was announced I was irritated because why a dress? Not all teachers wear a dress, so to me, the application process was obviously not about teachers, but about marketing to a particular group of people.
She wasn’t obligated to give away any dresses. No one was entitled to a free dress.
She blew it and now she needs to fix it before it ends DJ.
She can’t make a million dresses. As someone who works in the apparel industry, I guarantee that they’d cost at least $50 to make and ship right now. Reese Witherspoon is under no obligation to spend $50 million dollars giving teachers free dresses right now. That would be a monumental waste of money in the middle of a crisis with more dire needs. Even spending $1 million in this initiative would be frivolous and insane.
She tried to do a nice thing, and people are dragging her for it. Why not yell at all the celebrity-owned clothing lines not giving away anything at all?
Wait, did she offer a free dress to everyone who applied or offer to give away 250 dresses from random entires?!? The Instagram says 250 applicants, I’m confused as to why anyone would think she should have to pay for half a million dresses herself, that would bankrupt her business. Sounds like they underestimated how many teachers would apply, and you ALWAYS have to give personal information anytime you enter something like this, that’s nothing new, lol.
The personal ID, or “proof” request, is a step further than most drawings. People will typically not give out that level of personal information unless there’s a guaranteed incentive.
Either way, I’m sure the PR team has social media alerts set up. It’s reasonable to assume they saw this coming and didn’t do anything, allowing them to collect personal information based on what they knew was a miscommunication. That’s shady.
Yes but that would be expected if it’s a giveaway specifically for teachers, otherwise anyone could say sure I’m a teacher gimme my free shit. I’ve had to give my certification numbers or ID badge for healthcare professional giveaways, and of course you get emails notifications from the company after something like that. I just don’t understand what the big deal is I guess.
Seems like it said ‘a free dress to every teacher who applies’ and then 400,000 applications flooded in and broke their website. And ultimately a million applications were made when they amended their post because they had only intended to give away 250. What they should do is give every teacher a $75 gift card which still isn’t enough to buy a dress there but closer to it and they’d still profit because their shit is expensive.
Are you serious?
You think it would be possible to give away $75 million dollars?
Do you even think that this is a smart use of $75 million, given the crisis we’re in? There’s absolutely no way that Draper James has that amount of money just lying around. I doubt they have $5 million with the state of the economy.
I applied for this. Nothing was said about the 250 dresses until the email that explained they had such a huge response there was no way they could fulfill them all. The text definitely made it sound like a giveaway, not a raffle.
I think we’d all be frustrated if a company we perceived as legitimate asked for personal information *AND AN ID* in exchange for a giveaway and then failed to deliver.
Mistakes happen, but then they should have pulled this or clarified sooner. I imagine the PR team monitors social media and has alerts set up, so they could have seen this coming with how frequently it was shared. There were opportunities to intervene earlier and they failed to do anything, so I can imagine why people feel like this was a bait and switch.
Reese isn’t broke. Send teachers codes for 50% off of sale items. She clears out some inventory, teachers who entered feel somewhat heard, everyone wins.
I am a Kindergarten teacher and every other teacher I know flipped out when they saw this. Just like everyone right now, most of us teachers are pressed right now trying to deliver instruction virtually and this was a nice idea.
However, I think the reason it brought so much excitement is because Draper James dresses are expensive. I don’t know too many teachers who can afford their stuff. I know I can’t. I entered, but didn’t win and got emailed a 30% off code. Again this was a nice gesture, but not enough to encourage me to actually spend that for a dress even at a reduced price.
This was nothing but a ploy to get customer information and send out coupon codes for dresses teachers still can’t afford. Whoever had the idea to do it like this should be fired. They pulled a bait-and-switch and it’s not cool.
I’m a teacher.
Didn’t know about this, and don’t like her stuff anyway.
Let’s not forget Ms. Witherspoon pulled the “do you know who I am?” card at cops who pulled her and her husband over on a DUI charge in 2013.
Canceled.
Whoops!
People’s personal info is valuable. A million names, mailing addresses and emails, particularly in a specialized area (the more marketing details, the more valuable the info), with a list guaranteed to be accurate, as it was verified with photo ID…Well, that would be worth at least $20-$25k. Draper James’ dresses seem to retail from $75-$135 each, with most clothing brand markup somewhere in the 55-65% range. So, being generous, the company’s out-of-pocket cost for 250 dresses is maybe $16,250—significantly less than the value of the detailed personal info they received.
Look, if you advertise and promote a free giveaway to a certain segment, and require fairly significant documentation for qualification, you better be real clear up front about any limitations. They were not. This is on the company, and it is a VERY bad look for Witherspoon and Draper James, not a sense of entitlement by hardworking teachers who filled out forms, and shared extensive personal info, in good faith.
I REALLY hope all those who signed up don’t get sent catalogs and stuff. That would be a terrible way of getting a mailing list.
They really should make it clear to everyone that their collected personal info will be destroyed won’t be used for marketing purposes.
Giving discounts or even gift cards does not fix this massive mistake, because that requires the teachers to spend money to get something from her. With discounts or gift cards, she profits, ultimately, off a bait and switch for something that gave all appearances of being free if I read this post correctly.
If she, a multimillionaire Oscar winning actress and producer truly cannot plow the money into her company to supply the free dresses that were promised, then she should at least ensure that something free is given to all that applied. How about each person gets a Draper James accessory, like the heart earrings or the cute sunglasses shown on the site? You can’t tell me those are not mass produced for like four cents each. Or maybe a special limited edition scarf? In my experience, teachers love a good scarf.
Bingo.
As someone who works in fashion, I can tell you that it would cost at least $50 make and ship those dresses right now.
You’re asking her to spend $50 million. I doubt she has it, and her company definitely doesn’t have it.
Also, what a superficial and stupid waste of money during this pandemic. You really think it would be a good idea for a clothing company to spend $50 million on pretty dresses for teachers sitting at home? Would it be better for them to manufacture much-needed PPE that could save lives for nurses?
I agree with you. I read the initial Insta post and it seemed poorly worded but did say something along the lines of while supplies last. It’s is unreasonable to expect them to give away hundreds of thousands of dresses to make up for it and it would be a stupid waste of money when there are better ways to use the money. Apologize, learn from it, delete the data you collected, done.
I did more research and it seems like it got out of hand when the giveaway was featured on the Today Show and they claimed Draper James was giving away free dresses to teachers, that was misleading. Everything I read from the site and the original post makes it obvious you had to be picked and it was a lottery, not at all a free dress for everyone who applied. Her company also has 30 employees, that’s TINY, she cannot afford to give away half a million dresses, and she shouldn’t have to pay for it out of her own pocket, that’s absurd, even if she is a multimillionaire from her acting career. Even if she did pay for it out of pocket I would be horrified she didn’t donate that money to a more worthy cause. A lot bigger issues than a free dress right now.
It did say “while supplies last” you had to get your info in within a very short time frame (something like 4 days from when it was first announced?) and mentioned “winners being notified” but the whole tone of it was definitely “free dresses for teachers.”
And they changed the wording and the website after they got a huge amount of entries, which tells me they realized they messed up.
It really does come off as an easy way to get lots of consumer information.
Right. I fail to see where she is at fault here.
I just want to pet everybody here who thinks this was an innocent mistake on the head and let them know what sweet summer children they are. This isnt even just immoral because of the fake expectations they created for an overly stressed and overworked demographic, and the fact they didn’t follow through.
We’re not dealing in pecuniary capital anymore (at least that’s not what’s being extracted from the middle and lower classes) – information and behavioral prediction is where it’s at. Data is money. This will be/ most likely has already been sold/rented. They should be ashamed.
Agreed. Naive to think information will not be used.
Exactly. 100% expect to see a class action lawsuit out of this.
Le sigh… another day, another celebrity coronavirus facepalm.
I understand the disappointment but I don’t blame DJ, because this how their Instagram read, verbatim: “To apply, complete the form at the link in bio before this Sunday, April 5th, 11:59 PM ET. (Offer valid while supplies last – winners will be notified on Tuesday, April 7th.) ✏️📓👗 x The Draper James Team”. Sooo, it clearly said “to apply” and “winners will be notified”. It does not state “to get your free dress.” I know, because I saved the ad and shared it with my friends who are educators. None of them thought that they were guaranteed a dress, they thought that they were entering a contest.
THANK YOU!!!!! I have concern that so many people who misunderstood that disclaimer are EDUCATORS.
@Ashley – I am a teacher who has completed advanced graduate work. Guess what…although I did not have time to read the small print because I was too busy trying to reinvent the wheel after being told I had two days notice to switch my instruction to an online format as well as ensure that my at risk students basic needs were being met as far as school meals etc… are concerned, I am not a dumb person. Just a very busy and tired person who saw an ad for a pretty free dress and thought “why not”? Under normal circumstances would I have paid closer attention to the legal language, sure! But in the middle of a crisis that wasn’t my first thought. I am sure many teachers were in the same boat. We aren’t unintelligent people…overworked and underpaid, you bet! Dumb…no. Yet another example of teacher shaming on this thread….
🤣🤣🤣🤣
@Ashley: Girl, you don’t even know how to use basic capitalization or punctuation, so slow your role with the judgements about the intelligence of educators.
Sorry, but if they were only planning on giving away 250 dresses, they should have made that clear.
What they should have done is make it local, focused community based, like just for LA Unified or Nashville teachers, and put it as a raffle/ fundraiser. Then if that worked, make it annual thing to benefit different schools districts/ teachers. Icarus flying too high to the sun.
I’m sorry, but how dumb do people have to be to really expect that they and the other thousands of people obviously sending in applications were actually going to get a dress – particularly when the promotion said “while supplies last” … PR misjudgment on their part, but let’s drop the pitchforks. They’re not obligated to manufacture and give away 500,000 dresses, jesus Christ …
@Ashley – again, “the while supplies last” but was in very fine print. How was anyone supposed to know that so many people were also applying…there certainly wasn’t any type of “application ticker” letting you know how many had already been submitted. Let alone any disclosure that a measly 250 dresses would only be distributed. If teachers are so “dumb” as you say, I invite you to try doing my job for a day.
I won’t say *you’re* dumb, Ashley, but I *will* say that you lack essential critical thinking skills 🤷♀️
No need to be rude. Teachers are overworked and exhausted right now. If you’re a parent and are experiencing the chaos, try multiplying that times two or three and you’ll get what teachers are dealing with.
Yeah, just a bid to get personal information to try to increase sales imho. I can’t stand Reese Witherspoon, she’s always struck me as a spoiled brat – and her “do you know who I am” to the police only solidified this. Back on topic, though, it really is shady to use subterfuge especially during a pandemic to increase your sales…
This even got a write up in the NY Times for what NOT to do. Very poorly executed and they did not have the capacity or capability to do this. I assume this was a spontaneous gesture and they didn’t put in any research or months of planning needed to pull this off, especially with manufacturing being affected by this pandemic.
I’m not upset that I didn’t get a dress, but the email that followed with the “we’re just a poor plucky little startup with only 30 employees and we can’t possibly do this for every teacher who applied, we never imagined this would get such a response” was just insulting.
And yes, I think they did this for teachers because if anything went wrong then people could just pile on the “stupid, ignorant, greedy” teachers. Sh*tting on public educators is always in style and practically a national pastime…and they wonder why educators leave for other professions and schools can’t find people to teach their kids for pennies.
@Rose – spot on! I especially love how all the anti-educator sentiment is coming out on a webpage that generally seems to pride itself on being “progressive”. True colors and all that…
I don’t think it’s “anti educator” at all, of course teachers are undervalued and underpaid and deserve free shit sometimes, I think everyone can agree on that, it’s the attitude of some of these posters that’s off putting. Demanding that Reese pay out of pocket for half a million dresses is fkng laughable and ridiculous. Teachers do not in any way shape or form NEED a $200 dress, they simply wanted one, which is fine, but the outrage over not reading the rules or fine print is bizarre.
Yup. I’m seeing a lot of anti-teacher sentiment in this very thread.
Draper James is such a worthless, overpriced brand. Unimaginative, cheap clothes.
They need good PR, and this was awful. It is their responsibility to clarify their policies completely for any company giveaway or other advertisement. Putting that on the consumer is absurd.
It’s sad Reese, who is among the super rich and could do a great deal for others, can’t think of anything better to help in a time like this.
Teachers have so much on their shoulders at the best of times.
I do t think she should have to pay millions of dollars for a typo. Let’s face it, it probably wasn’t even her typo.
I would never wish for a small business, even one backed by a celebrity, to go out of business over a misstep like this. When things seem too good to be true, they usually are. Common sense dictates that, of course it was only applicable “while quantities last”. These people need to get over themselves. Facebook already has all your information anyway 🙂
I was a middle school teacher. I loved my students. But the job was brutal–I woke up every morning crying, I had panic attacks, and I had to leave the profession. I’m grateful not to be under that pressure now. I feel for all the teachers who already have to meet unreasonable expectations at the best of times. People outside of education don’t understand just how badly the system has been managed, how quickly conditions have deteriorated. I spoke to a veteran teacher at my school (24 year career) and she told me the last five years were the most stressful years she’s ever had. People are leaving the profession at the highest rate since statistics started being collected about teachers 20 years ago. That’s because teachers are underpaid and undervalued, especially compared to professionals with similar education levels. Meanwhile, my school had four administrators (who needs four principals?) each getting paid between $250-$400K annually.
Now it’s even more out of control. Thank you to all teachers for all you do. I know how hard it is. I know how much of yourself you give to your work. I know how deeply you care about the kids, and how worried you are about the ones who usually depend on school for breakfast and lunches, or who live in unsafe neighborhoods, or have unreliable parents. I know how little you get paid, and how much of your paycheck goes back into your classroom each month because districts won’t supply basic necessities or supplementary items for things *they ask you to do* like science labs. It’s disappointing that the parameters of this giveaway were not made clearer. Teachers should be appreciated at this time for doing their best in an utterly impossible situation. Thank you again to all the teachers out there.
I’m more enthralled with the fact that her eyes (now that she has had “work” done) look so much like Maria Shriver’s in the gingham sundress photo. She also has a Diane Kruger vibe as well. I have received several magazines lately where she was either on the cover or in an article and I had to read who it was to know it was her.
How hard was it to just say it was a raffle? Now they look shady as hell, having gotten all of that personal information. Are they going to use it themselves? Sell it to someone else? What? I certainly wouldn’t buy a single thing from them in the future knowing they pulled that. It’s amazing how much money goes into these brands and no sensible PR to back them at times.
They did say it was a raffle in the IG post in the second sentence – while supplies last and winners will be notified. It was crystal clear and totally up front
So people are mad at a small business that hasn’t been around a very long time for not giving away a million dresses when the post clearly said ‘while supplies last’ and ‘winners notified’? Hopefully before giving out that personal information, more people will now always read the fine print.
Giving away dresses during a pandemic when no other celebs are doing that? Shit, at least they tried.
they steaming mad!
I’m sorry for the state of your business right now. I know where your hurt was coming from.
I mean, this is the lady who wanted to “Hire” a librarian for free, then backpedaled when people called her out. So….
I went into a Draper James store last fall and walked out after only 5 minutes…too frilly, too many checks, too much rickrack trim, for my taste! Her clothes are made for a 1940’s era Southern tea party, not a modern working woman.
this thread got hilarious. I just drank two wines and I’m nearly crying from laughing so hard. “teacher-shaming” hahahahha. thank you ladies, thank you.
also, you’ve changed my mind, hard. I’m big mad over this. BIG mad! I hope they lock her up! she deserves it for this heinous act of teacher shaming!
Glad you’re finding it entertaining. Hopefully you still do tomorrow.
Nonetheless, let’s stop with the comments targeting teachers please. Not sure where it’s coming from, but they have enough on their plates. If you want to go after teachers privately, go for it. But no reason to bring them down here.
Darla always comments negative trolly crap like this. This is nothing new, she always comes off as a hateful person in her comments.
i can’t stand her. And I don’t know why. I don’t have even a reason🤔 it’s liike something is off wiith her. I don’t liike to watch her in movies.
“While supply lasts” is a legitimate clause in every giveaway. Saying that Reese has to take money out of her pocket to give away 250K-500K dresses is unreasonable at best. It’s nice to want to do something for teachers. But no, she doesn’t OWE to put millions of dollars out of her pocket because the raffle was successful. Jeez..
Darla is the new Karen!!😁😁😈😈😴😴
Exactly
I don’t know what y’all are reading, but the actual words:
Draper James would like to give teachers a free dress. To apply, complete the form at the link in bio before this Sunday, April 5th, 11:59 PM ET. (Offer valid while supplies last – winners will be notified on Tuesday, April 7th
Never said ALL teachers. It literally says *apply* and *while supplies last* and *winners*
People need to read for comprehension
The thing is, I saw the “Free Dress from Draper James!” post on social media back when this happened. And it was stated directly that they would be giving away 250 dresses. I noted it because it was such an absurdly low number. You had to read through like 3 paragraphs of info to get to the 250 dresses part, but it was right there. So I’m sorry people are disappointed, but this wasn’t hidden or secret info in any way. Reading is fundamental, as they say!
I’m a first grade teacher. Yes, I signed up for the raffle. Am I mad I didn’t get a dress? Nope. Can we admit it was a shady business idea to acquire customers who most likely won’t be buying DJ dresses for kids to wipe paint and glue on? I think the original thought was kind and then they realized they could spin it to pull in more customers. I still appreciated the kind words from DJ at a time when we were all so unsure how we were going to support our students and families remotely. Thank you to all who had kind things to say about teachers. 🙂
Pick the winners and then get the data. Sorry, I don’t like data mining of this manner. I don’t think the data will be destroyed but will be exploited..