After a thin-skinned Circuit City exec ordered stores carrying Mad Magazine to search and destroy all copies of a recent issue featuring a 4-page parody of “Sucker City,” someone with a brain stopped the madness. Here’s the surprisingly classy message we just got from corporate:
Hi, Ben,
I spotted the article about Circuit City and MAD Magazine on your site.
fyi, I became aware of this “situation” only this morning, and I have sent a note today to the Editors of MAD Magazine.
Speaking as “an embarrassed corporate PR Guy,” I apologized for the fact that some overly-sensitive souls at our corporate headquarters ordered the removal of the August issue of MAD Magazine from our stores. Please keep in mind that only 40 of our 700 stores sell magazines at all.
The parody of our newspaper ad in the August MAD was very clever. Most of us at Circuit City share a rich sense of humor and irony…but there are occasional temporary lapses.
We apologize for the knee-jerk reaction, and have issued a retraction order; the affected stores are being directed to put the magazines back on sale.
As a gesture of our apology and deep respect for the folks at MAD Magazine, we are creating a cross-departmental task force to study the importance of humor in the corporate workplace and expect the resulting Powerpoint presentation to top out at least 300 pages, chock full of charts, graphs and company action plans.
In addition I have offered to send the MAD Magazine Editor a $20.00 Circuit City Gift Card, toward the purchase of a Nintendo Wii….if he can find one!
All the best,
Jim Babb
Corporate Communications
Circuit City Stores, Inc.
Richmond, VA
Let’s evaluate it on the 3-step system for fixing corporate gaffes:
1. Admitted they were wrong
2. Stopped doing the wrong thing
3. Made a material gesture of apology
Check check and check on all three, plus points for speed. You go, girls.
PREVIOUSLY: Circuit City Orders All Stores To Destroy Issue Of Mad Magazine Parodying “Sucker City”
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Hmm… the AP talks like they got this email too. There’s no mention of “The Consumerist” and not even a mention of “a consumer news blog“.
But the quote from MAD is pretty good: “We at MAD were shocked and confused by this entire incident – mainly because we had no idea that Circuit City even sells magazines.”
@Michael Belisle: Guess the AP did get the email too, because newsorama got it too.
But there’s an interesting aside in the AP article: “[Babb] defended Circuit City’s sense of humor, pointing to a link of a commercial on YouTube produced by the company.” Which is funny, since the Youtube description says “here’s a circuit city commercial we’ll never see!”
Except, you know, right now. When I’m watching it.
I wonder what that PR rep thought when he saw the knee jerk reaction to begin with? An overreaction to a parody is like chumming the waters.
@stacye: “And I swear to you, we’ll FIND the bastard who put that envelope under all that garbage!”
I know I’m not the first to say this letter was funnier than the actual parody, but it’s still the best comment here.
That was fantastic. Powerpoints, corporate task forces, it had it all! They may have bad things going for them, but their PR department is tops.
@Farquar: I second that statement.
Now if he’d just mentioned something about firing those overly sensitive souls at corporate and hiring in replacements at a lower wage, I’d really have been impressed.
CC just shot a ray of sunshine up my arse and made purple flowers shoot out my eyes and leprechauns come dancing out of my mouth. I hope they have not started to higher people to troll forums and write niceties back. BB take note.
Mad Magazine parody – C-
Circuit City apology – A+
I actually don’t shop there primarily due to the fact that in order to get a good deal you have to do a mail in rebate. And to me, those things are the devil incarnate. Say what you want about Best Buy, at least you don’t have to deal with that crap (not much anyway). Loved the letter though.
I actually went home and cracked open my copy of Mad (yes I’ve been a subscriber for 5 years). The 4 page Mad parody ad is hilarious, and very accurate of your Circuit City and Best Buy stores.
@mavrick67: um how about
Mad Magazine parody – A+
Circuit City apology – F
Circuit City brought un-necessary attention to themselves. Mad Magazine is a parody mag, if you can’t handle it don’t read it!
I’d give the Mad parody a B. “Shiitake” alone made me laugh.
Hmm. The original memo from CC higher-up Elizabeth Barron (featured in the previous article) says:
“Destroy all copies and throw them away. They are not inventoried, and your store will not incur shrink.”
So… nobody keeps track of how well magazines sell at Circuit City? No wonder Mad’s editor was confused, jokingly or not; there’s no sales data to indicate that CC sells magazines at all! Are they giving them out for free? If someone walked off with a stack of them, would they be missed?
Jim Babb should be made CEO. NOW!
Great Response, but is it real?
@stacye: Actually yes… As Alice’s Restaurant is a Thanksgiving tradition in my household, there isn’t a year that goes by that we don’t hear it. I dont care what anyone says… THAT is comedy perfection