Every year, the shopaholics of Dallas have the opportunity to participate in a fundraiser for The Family Place, a Dallas-based family violence service provider, called Partners Card, a $70 card that provides a 20 percent discount at hundreds of participating stores (such as local boutiques, The Gypsy Wagon and Elements, and national designer stores including Oscar de la Renta and Kate Spade). Proceeds from the card purchases go directly to The Family Place’s programs. Lululemon, the beloved yoga apparel shop, is not a supporting retailer, and, based on the look of their weekend window display, not a big fan. Paige Flink, executive director of The Family Place, posted the photo above on her Facebook page this weekend. It was snapped late Saturday afternoon at NorthPark. The text reads: “we do partners yoga, not partners card.” So why the offensive snub to the Partners Card campaign? I’ve dialed the store to find out, but phone calls are going directly to voicemail.
According to Flink, store employees told her Saturday instead of offering a discount for The Family Place, which corporate wouldn’t allow, they were offering yoga to The Family Place. Flink says, at this time, that isn’t true.
Fans of The Family Place have let Lululemon know of their disappointment in their advertisement. Comments to their Facebook page include the following:
Very disappointed in your negative advertisement at North Park. Partners Card helps save lives from domestic violence.
and
Lululemon Northpark…SHAME ON YOU for making a mockery of The Family Place and their Patners Card fundraiser. It’s bad enough you chose not to participate but you went way too far when you put a sign on your storefront window boasting that fact!
I’ve been told the slogan has been removed from the window display, but without making a trip myself, I can’t confirm. In the meantime, if you’re interested in supporting The Family Place, there are more than 750 stores on board–full list here–and you can buy your card at select retailers or online.
“This is our biggest fundraiser,” Flink says. “There are so many fantastic stores that support this. It’s a community effort.”
Thank you, Jeanne Prejean, for the alert on this interesting news.
Update: Lululemon’s reponse via Facebook:
Hi everyone,
Thank you for sharing this with us and for expressing your concerns. I want you all to know your thoughts and insights to are very important to us, and we have reached out to the Northpark store and have shared your feedback.This window was not intended to be offensive, instead, it was meant to celebrate our love of yoga. I can understand your concerns for how this was perceived and want to assure you that while we don’t participate in Partners card, the Northpark team is supporting the charity through the gift of yoga. We are in communication with The Family Place and working on what we can create together. Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
~Katelin
