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All eyes have been on Reese Witherspoon since the release of her hit Hulu series “Little Fires Everywhere”. The actress has caught some heat recently when a giveaway hosted by her clothing company Draper James went astray and fans were quick to call her out.
The company’s intentions were to celebrate teachers and their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic by hosting a giveaway to gift teachers free dresses to honor them. The catch was that Draper James had a mere 250 dresses to giveaway…and there are millions of teachers in the United States alone.
The April 2 Instagram giveaway post called forward teachers everywhere so that the Southern style brand could thank them in their own special way. The post read, “Dear Teachers: We want to say thank you. During quarantine, we see you working harder than ever to educate our children. To show our gratitude, Draper James would like to give teachers a free dress.”
Draper James’ following was encouraged to apply for the giveaway by completing a form via a link in the company’s Instagram bio. The response to the giveaway overwhelmed the company.
According to The New York Times, the application form crashed “almost immediately” and Draper James received just under one million applications, which was about seven times the total number of dresses the company sold in 2019.
In an interview with The Times, Draper James senior vice president for brand marketing and creative Marissa Cocoley said that the company didn’t anticipate the response they received and that it was “way more volume than the company had ever seen.”
Although the company had the best intentions to celebrate teachers, educators everywhere were left disappointed when they didn’t get their free dress.
Hopefully teachers had their chance to snag a dress at a discounted rate during Draper James’ Spring Friends & Family Event where they are offering 25 percent off sitewide on new arrivals and sale styles, which comes just before Teacher Appreciation Day on May 5.
What do you think of Reese Witherspoon's Draper James giveaway? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
