The worst marketing idea for 2004

[Albea]

The worst marketing idea for 2004.

This from the last issue of the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary magazine:
"Boston, Massachusetts: A group of former executives of IKEA and the Gap are hoping to sell puppies like they've been selling chairs and blue jeans.
Woof & Co. has opened two stores in Boston malls, with plans to add six stores in 2004 and go national in 2005. The chain is selling purebred puppies and upscale accessories to people who don't know better than to buy them–hoping to carve a niche in the "upscale market."
"The company gets its puppies from Hunte Corp., a Missouri-based broker for puppy mills. These "breeders" keep dogs in appaling conditions–tiny wire cages, where they live as long as they are capable of breeding. The puppies are sent to pet stores. Many of them then end up in shelters.
'We are a lifestyle store,' said Linda Povey, one of the executives."

What kind of a lifestyle is that? People will not stop at anything to make money. Anybody close to Boston who can gather enough friends of animals to picket those stores?

[ramanth]

Don't live near Boston, and I don't think we have an IKEA here, but any reason to boycott the Gap is fine by me.