next naming a business story >

previous naming a company story >

A marketing strategy or identity theft? Alfred E. Neuman repositions the Super Polo for Lands' End.

DODGEVILLE, WI. Feb. 22, 2002. The Lands’ End catalog is about as upper middle of the road as you can get. So I was quite surprised to find myself staring at Alfred E. Neuman wearing the Super Polo (“Think of it as the Baby Boomer’s Tee Shirt”) on the March cover. Of course, they had to explain who he is (“MAD Magazine’s Gap-Toothed Idiot”). Now I sort of get the marketing synergy between Taco Bell and KFC, but will someone please tell me how a patronizing usurpation of one of my childhood heroes helps Lands’ End--bastion of middle class conformity--connect to its customers. It better be a good one.