This name keeps cropping up recently, with regard to poor spares and the fact they told people their spare parts were rubbish(?).
Any links etc?
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Not sure but it RINGS a bell
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Ratners was once a chain of jewellery stores. The chain's founder, Gerald Ratner made an infamous gaffe by describing one of its wares as "total crap"
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2073123.stm
No motoring connection apart from the previous postings and the comparison.
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It was a very long time ago but, just like the Fiats rust myth still prevailing in some peoples' minds, is still very much remembered.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I think it's used not just as a by-word for cheap rubbishy items, but also an example of how over-honest promotion can occasionally backfire.
Up to a point the public will accept the idea of a cheap and cheerful outlet for no-frills items at budget prices. But they like to be told they are cannily buying "budget" or "economy" wares. They don't even mind knowing the stuff is rubbish, but being told so by the manufacturer just went too far.
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>>They don't even mind knowing the stuff is rubbish>>
Much of the problem was that Ratner described at least one of his stores' items as "a load of c--p" on nationwide television in the early evening when, during that particular period, most of the population were viewing...
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Must have cost Gerald Ratner millions, which would have hurt even though he could well afford it.
As a pathologically indiscreet person myself, I have some sympathy for the man, but only some. He was after all dissing the bad-taste millions who were supporting him and his firm in such princely style. He had somehow lost sight of what was really important to him. Capitalists aren't supposed to do that.
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I heard he moved on to greater heights and now flogs his tat himself on QVC
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...Much of the problem was that Ratner described .... in the early evening when, during that particular period, most of the population were viewing...
in reply to stuartli - it was a speech given earlier, that was picked up much later by the media, and then edited to suggest that ratner was referring to "all" his products when in fact he was referring to just one particular cheap item.
I heard he moved on to greater heights ..
in reply to big bad dave:
he certainly has. he has mounted a takeover bid for the chain of stores which used to be his but was forced to resign from after his infamous speech.
see news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5375332.stm
24 September 2006, Gerald Ratner, the businessman who called his products "crap" in the early 1990s, is set to table a bid of £350m for the UK's largest jeweller, Signet.
incidentally, in there was also this gaffe by another chief:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3199822.stm
They call it 'doing a Ratner' - in memory of the famous gaffe committed by Gerald Ratner back in 1991, when he admitted selling "crap" in his High Street shops.
Now the boss of the UK's largest credit card company has done it in such a spectacular fashion that it left business observers open-mouthed.
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Thread locked - DD
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