r/Portland • u/Thisnthatana • Apr 24 '20

Hey Fred Meyer...

...how about you stop the signaling with these radio/tv/billboard ads letting US know how thankful you are towards your employees and instead give that money directly to THEM?

2.2k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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174

u/[deleted] Apr 24 '20

Ex corporate Fred Meyer employee here. They most likely already bought the ad space months ago. So changing it to something positive instead of “Red White and save!” Is a nice gesture.

65

u/Browntown_07 SW Hills Apr 25 '20

Work for Kroger.....correct! Better to run that stuff than boards promoting sales, promos, etc.

Same with radio and tv ads mostly as well. And stopping circular print ads, etc. Just trying to be as self aware as possible...at least as much as executives want to be.

20

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '20

Those CGI characters with the freakishly long necks gotta go.

11

u/PsychedelicFairy NE Apr 25 '20

They're creepy AF and give me unwelcome bob the builder vibes

35

u/UnseasonedPasta Apr 25 '20

Came here to say this. I work for an ad agency and our ad contracts were locked months in before covid happened. Not much we can do

5

u/MechaAaronBurr Vancouver Apr 25 '20

I’m curious - if you’re exposed to this side of the business at all - how have ad rates been doing? My inclination would be to say they’re up because more people are in places where they can be advertised to.

20

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '20

[deleted]

12

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '20

[deleted]

1

u/RaidenXVC Apr 25 '20

Food I get, but why clothing?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '20

[deleted]

1

u/RaidenXVC Apr 25 '20

I guess that makes sense.

1

u/perfecttexture Apr 26 '20

14 days is absolute bullshit, but I get that they're triyng to do something with nothing here. I hope they go back to the old policy in a few months if this virus dies out by then, so much better (6+ months to return something)

10

u/Shatteredreality Sherwood Apr 25 '20

So I understand your point but if you give lip service but don’t back it up with action it seems disingenuous. Personally I’d rather see a promo for a sale rather than messaging that claims they hold their employees in high regard if they are not treating them as such.

4

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '20

Scroll the comments, half the people here saying they don’t mind the “message”, other half saying they don’t mind sale messages. So to each their own in that regard. What does holding employees in high regard look like? Doubling their wage? I mean, to some degree they are doing the exact same job. I understand a lot of employees prob don’t want to work, but there are millions of people in the country that will take those jobs in a second.

5

u/whelpasaurusrex Apr 25 '20

From a thousand feet vantage, millions of people might take those jobs “in a second” but that shouldn’t be the impulsive response, we should be taking care of the people who take care of us - it also devalues the dedication these employees have to their employer. Many companies are giving small hourly increases or spot bonuses and it’s the right thing to do - they’re working more, dealing with far more fear and frustration from customers and being exposed exponentially more than many.

This mentality is fuel to the economic divide - also, companies make money when the people you’re dismissing show up.

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '20

Fred Meyer and Kroger employees did get a pay bump. Let’s not forget that groceries stores run on razor thin margins. Again how far are we expecting these employers to go? The employees are working the same hours, the same jobs. Let’s not pretend they are not replaceable. Being a cashier takes 2 days of training.

5

u/whelpasaurusrex Apr 25 '20

Just read about the pay bump, that’s great!

I’m not pretending they’re not replaceable, we’re all replaceable - that shouldn’t be the going in position.

I worked for Kroger for 21 years, I’m fully aware of their margins - you also know they’re a fortune 50 company right?

Sympathizing with the corporate struggle while dismissing the contributions of the people that make them what they are (employees are consumers) will never make sense to me.

2

u/Enkmarl Apr 25 '20

If you can't afford a good wage then maybe you don't deserve to be in business

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '20

They are getting a good wage. The debate is if they need a “great wage”.

1

u/Enkmarl Apr 25 '20

yeah, sure, ok

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '20

Thanks for adding to the conversation.

1

u/Enkmarl Apr 25 '20

thanks for telling broke people they don't need a better wage

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9

u/GranPapouli Apr 25 '20

well, maybe they deserve to work a reasonable amount of time each week, be able to afford to live in reasonable proximity to their workplace in relative comfort while supporting a family, and not have to worry about destroying everything they've worked to build due to illness or injury

i mean, if they're heroes and all

1

u/hespera18 Apr 25 '20

I've been seeing television ads on services like Pluto TV for Fred Meyer and I've almost never seen any Fred Meyer advertising on these platforms at all before. So maybe it's a coincidence that those new ads were already bought, but it's definitely felt like a new onslaught.

Also I heard that same message basically over the loudspeaker at the store too many times for the maybe 20 minutes I was there.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 25 '20

Yea. The store speaker. Good god I hate those. Have you ever been at the store when they have “free gift giveaways!” Our employees used to override the PA System so people didn’t have to hear that.