The Panning of Peterman Panned
YOU’VE GOT TO give John Peterman this much credit: While his catalog may have gone out in a blaze of glory, the flames have yet to die, judging from the amount of ink and sound bites J. Peterman Co. is still generating.
A recent example of the media frenzy is from the April 2 edition of The New York Times. The article, by Leslie Kaufman, looks into whether the ultimate blame for the catalog’s demise can be placed on former president Arnold Cohen. The headline-“Company Killer or Retail Guru?”-and the accompanying photograph pretty much sum up the thrust of the piece.
The photo shows a thin Peterman looking over one shoulder, peering under a straw hat and over a pair of round-rimmed spectacles from the seat of an old roadster; and a stocky Cohen in what seems to be an ill-fitting jacket, squinting at the camera he faces, while leaning on the closed car door.
Filled with quotes about Cohen being a “serial killer of companies,” the article pretty much follows the photo. Cohen tries on a number of positions he doesn’t quite fit at a number of firms, trying to be the guy in the driver’s seat. The article claims he may have been responsible for putting J. Crew and London Fog into serious financial trouble and bankrupted Today’s Man and J. Peterman as well.
While the article does explain that J.Peterman was never more than a midsized company that never really showed a profit because of poor management, the reader is left with the idea that Cohen is being singled out for blame. For example, when the idea arose of advertising the catalog during “Seinfeld”-which featured a character who worked for a fictionalized version of the catalog-Cohen is credited with suggesting that the company demand NBC flash Peterman’s toll-free number during the sitcom instead. (Some marketing mavens assert that while J. Peterman was a well-recognized name with the American public, until its very public and publicized bankruptcy, only a few realized there was a real catalog behind it.)
Whether one is a fan of Cohen or not, it seems the Times has missed the larger and arguably more important story of companies that are in trouble or are ambitious and falling for charismatic quick fixes instead of long-term solutions.
As for Peterman himself? He plans to leap into the media fires by writing a book.
