Did Kelly Clarkson suffer the ‘Pretty Woman’ experience?
We’ve known Kelly Clarkson as the first-ever winner of American Idol. Then we knew her as a chart-topping pop star. More recently she’s been hosting a daytime talk show. As an angry customer, however, Clarkson is almost unrecognizable.
Over the past few days stories have been swirling about an incident that took place when Clarkson visited a novelty store called The Art of Play in Brooklyn.
According to Clarkson, she spotted an animated yellow bird that interested her, but was told it wasn’t for sale. She was also told they would find something comparable.
Bird buying gone awry
The store staff insist the bird was attached to the wall and that the price tag Clarkson posted in a followup social media post referred to a nearly identical copy.
What mattered to Clarkson, however, was that she felt the store associate was looking at her as though she couldn’t afford the $15,000 price.
She compared herself to the Julia Roberts character in ‘Pretty Woman,’ a prostitute who was condescendingly sneered at by staff while shopping at a Rodeo Drive boutique.
The character’s return the next day in high-end clothes, where she called out the staff and left without buying anything, was a moment of vindication that left audiences cheering.
Pretty ugly CX
How a customer feels is obviously core to a great customer experience, and Clarkson’s encounter definitely missed the mark.
What’s not clear is whether staff recognized her. If they did, it’s hard to characterize this as a ‘Pretty Woman’ experience.
Despite coming out in 1990, that scene in ‘Pretty Woman’ remains relevant because it represents CX at its worst.
It’s one thing to offer a better than average experience to a customer who is perceived as more valuable. Treating any customer rudely, regardless of their perceived value, is unacceptable.
That may not be what happened here. Celebrities are known for getting all kinds of special treatment, but the associate may not have been sure about dismantling the bird from the store wall.
They might have been intimidated by someone as famous as Clarkson. Or they might not have been a fan and bristled at being expected to cater to her request.
Following Clarkson’s angry posts online, the store has apologized, attempted to explain and accused her of trying to destroy their business, something that would only be possible because the upset customer has a platform the size of Clarkson’s.
(The company has also raised the price of the original bird piece to $15 million, however, which suggests there is still more of this story left to tell).
Clarkson deserved to be treated with fairness and friendless no matter who she is. Whether or not the incident truly echoes what happened in ‘Pretty Woman,’ it’s a pretty clear example of how badly a negative experience can escalate.
