Scrapbookers Called Dowdy by Wall Street Journal Author
Brooks Barnes, a reporter for Wall Street Journal, has labeled scrapbooking as a ‘dowdy craft business’.
And scrapbookers are hopping mad!
Brooks wrote the article, “Dowdy Craft Business Gets Martha Stewart Makeover“, about the launch of Martha Stewart’s crafts line. It could have been a straightforward analysis of the profit-driven decision. Instead, he peppers it with statements like these (emphasis mine):
What does the domestic-arts maven see in a dowdy industry where merchandise is sold in cluttered stores stacked floor to ceiling with pipe cleaners, Styrofoam balls, glue sticks, beads and fake flowers?
To succeed, Ms. Stewart will have to connect with a far-flung world of customers, including legions of Middle Americans who may never have used her tips on home decor or holiday cooking. She put her designers to work coming up with new twists on such mundane products as scrapbooks, ribbon, and cardboard boxes. Her executives went looking for a retail partner whose stores didn’t look like a mess.
The crafts business, in some ways, is eccentric. Even outlets operated by big craft chains often resemble Main Street hardware stores from a bygone era, with oddball items stacked inefficiently in a dusty jumble. Suppliers are a hodgepodge, ranging from the office supply giant 3M Co. to a two-person company that sells a single item, Baby Tooth Album Inc.
Dowdy?!? Bygone era?!? Dowdy is defined in the Free Dictionary as “lacking stylishness or neatness; shabby; old-fashioned; antiquated”. So has Martha lost her “stylishness” in joining the crafts business? Are we crafters now to be relegated to the dusty corners as being out of it and old-fashioned? Are we now to be called messy old hags?
I think not! When I look at my LSS and the products on display, I see innovation, fashion, and yes, style! Scrapbooks and the people who make them are no different. New techniques are always being developed, talents abound, and intelligent journalling written. And as for neatness, I see many layouts that rival the designs on current magazine pages! So dowdy, we are not!
Granted, these statements and the “dowdy” label did not come from Martha herself. She wouldn’t make that PR mistake, if she wants scrapbookers to embrace her products. Still, it hasn’t encouraged a warm response from the community this early in the line’s release (it hasn’t even officially launched yet!). Message boards are reacting as though the words were Martha’s own! It might do her well to try and undo the damage, before scrapbookers permanently close their wallets where her products are concerned.
Tags: scrapbooking, Martha Stewart, scrapbooks, Brooks Barnes, Wall Street Journal, crafts
April 28th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I have no idea where Ms (Mr?) Barnes got the descriptions you quoted of scrapbooking but clearly s/he is not at all educated about the topic! One only has to flip through the scrapbook pages shown in popular scrapping magazines, or visit a store with large aisles and neatly arranged products to know that Barnes hasn’t done either of these things.
While I’m sure Martha Stewart’s line will be successful, I’m not sure if my budget will be able to afford it! We’ll see if something there tempts me though
April 29th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
I am thinking of some of my favorite scrapbook products and dowdy is the last word I would think of.
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