Zina Eva Bags: Racist Email Is No Way To Sell Handbags

You're not going to believe this one.   Then again, maybe you will...

My pals over at Bag Snob have received a stream of racist, harrassing emails from a "publicist" for Zina Eva handbags after they declined to participate in a giveaway.    Stupid, right?  Oh, it's beyond stupid.  The Bag Snobs were creeped out enough by the emails (there are more than a dozen) to warn several bloggers and post about it.

This is a very unusual occurence I must say, but creepy racist emails are no joke.   

Here's an excerpt from the Bag Snob post:

We weren't going to do an editorial on this bag line but have received over a dozen crazy harassment emails from the PR girl representing them so we decided to put it out there so you can stay clear of this line of horribly made and very cheap bags. Kelly first received an email two months ago from Zina Eva's rep asking to participate in our monthly bag giveaway but after receiving the samples this weekend we decided the bags were not up to Bag Snob par and we couldn't possibly endorse it let alone give it to our readers. (a bag that looks cute and adorable in photos sometimes doesn't translate as well in person) So why didn't we like the bags? First of all, they smelled heavily of plastic and looked and felt like plastic (fake embossed snakeskin is the one they sent), the handles were also very flimsy and felt like plastic too. Seriously, you could get better bags at Target for $39.99. (Bag Snob note: they maintain their bags are made of leather but they smell and feel like plastic to us)

We promptly contacted them and told them we'd return the bags and will not be able to include them in our monthly giveaway but the PR girl turned nasty and started sending us harassment emails with racist overtones. Let's see, she accused us of using fake last names because our names are English/European yet we don't look European (Basically non-white people are not allowed to have European surnames according to this genius PR girl) and then she accused us of trying to scam them of $150 (wholesale price) bags?!?!??! How is it a scam if we didn't want to keep the hideous bags for our giveaway?

Manolo's Shoe Blog, Second City Style and Kristopher Dukes, (in typically shy Kristopher fashion -  Zina Eva's PR Sucks More Than A Busy Hooker) have weighed in and I'll keep you posted.  But if you see or read about these handbags anywhere, just remember that they are apparently not for non-white people.

All PR is NOT good PR folks.

UPDATE:  Zina Eva apologizes and fires the PR firm.   Let's hope that this is the end of it.

Comments

[Patricia]

I dont agree with the racist comment but i do agree with the soccer mom comments. LMAO . These women think they are hot yet they cant afford the absolute best! and Hermes is not the best. Critiques who dont live the lifestyle they critque are so 1992

[Nichelle]

@ Patricia/Coy - Spoken like someone who has never met either Bag Snob.

As far as this gem of wisdom you provided:

Critiques who dont live the lifestyle they critque are so 1992

1.) A "critique" is the act of criticizing. The person providing the analysis is called a "critic".

2.) Anonymous "Critiques" who are poor spellers with no vocabulary are definitely not hot and clearly can't afford the absolute best.

[Catherine]

As a business person it strikes me as absolutely stupefying (like in stupid beyond belief) that any business could act this way.

As for the PR firm-It would be interesting to see what kind of qualifications they put on their resume that makes someone want to hire them.

I can imagine the following conversation between the business owner and the pr firm salesperson.

Owner:"We are interested in marketing our products by improving public relations with high profile marketing organizations or fashion advisers that are not currently aware of us. How can you help us?"

Pr Firm Sales: "We have a very innovative approach guaranteed to get you maximum exposure."

Owner: " How does that work?"

Pr Sales: "It's really unique. We may try to patent it.We casually approach an organization and make them an offer they can't accept. Then when they reject us we craft a major insult response to them"

Owner: "I am confused.That seems contrary to what other Pr companies do.Won't that make people angry? How does that work?"

Pr Sales: "That's the Genius of it. When people are mad they talk a lot about you. More people will be aware of you than you ever imagined"

It looks like they were right.

[Nichelle]

@Catherine - Negative PR will get you some attention, sure. But are they making any sales? Will they last in the long run?

They made a bad move any way you look at it.