Doing well doing good

Stores are hoping to do well by urging shoppers to do good. This Christmas season, Americans are the focus of a different kind of retail marketing: kinder, gentler campaigns that appeal to the emotions as well as people's oft-stated wish to share with the less fortunate. The retail marketing campaigns also provide a new incentive for customers to visit the stores. The Gap, Build-a-Bear, and Brooks Brothers are 3 retailers cited in this New York Times article. Paco Underhill says stores are hoping to wrap themselves in a mantle that distinguishes them. Just as Whole Foods has wrapped itself in the mantle of organic, chemical-free food, this season's retailers are trying to identify themselves with charity. A significant part of our nation is getting older, and as people get older, they get less interested in sex and more interested in spirituality.