Video: New JC Penney Ad Begs Customers To Come Back

Image via Flickr/ DB's Travels'

Talk about crawling back on your hands and knees, tail between your legs. JC Penney knows it fucked up royally, and apparently it’s been left with no choice than to beg customers to come back to the struggling retailer. After firing CEO Ron Johnson on April 9 amidst plummeting sales just 17 months after he took the helm, JC Penney is vowing to listen to customers and reverse some of the unpopular changes that drove them away in hoards. Those promises, as well as the some major ass-kissing, came in the form of a new television campaign launched May 1.

During his brief tenure, Johnson implemented several major changes to JC Penney’s pricing and sales policies, as well as its stores’ layout. The changes were extremely unpopular and did nothing more than alienate lifelong customers. In fact, sales tumbled $4.3 billion in Johnson’s first year as CEO. Now Penney’s hopes to attract those customers back. In the new television spot, titled “It’s No Secret,” the company says it’s learned from its mistakes and is prepared to listen to its customers.

“It’s no secret, recently J.C. Penney changed. Some changes you liked and some you didn’t, but what matters from mistakes is what we learn,” a voiceover says in the commercial. “We learned a very simple thing, to listen to you. To hear what you need, to make your life more beautiful. Come back to J.C. Penney, we heard you. Now, we’d love to see you.”

The ad launched to Internet and television audiences just in time for the Mother’s Day shopping season. Ironically, it was developed about a month ago under Johnson’s direction.