It turns out there is good reason for that old expression Getting Taken to the Cleaners‚ So what happens when you leave your cleaner with your most valuable clothes?
– Rebecca Jarvis, ABC News Chief Biz & Econ Correspondent.
ABC News is promoting a sensationalist news item that will be aired on 20/20 Friday, March 7 at 10 p.m. Eastern. So far two promotions have been observed, one on Good Morning America and another on ABC‚s website.
Following the 20/20 story DLI will work up a set of talking points members can use to field likely questions from customers. Look for that email Monday morning. DLI CEO Mary Scalco will also personally draft a response from the Institute to ABC News on the item.
Good Morning America teased the 20/20 piece by showing clips of their interview with Jerry Pozniak, owner of Jeeves New York, a „high end‰ New York City drycleaning business. Sensationalist clips of angry customers, including Jerry Seinfeld, were shown from popular movies and television shows.
Of the Dry Cleaners Dirtiest Secrets, two were shown:
Secret No. 1 – Scummy Solvent – Shows a jar of still residue and says that when some cleaners cut corners to save on costs they clean clothes with this stuff. Jerry Pozniak is shown on screen saying, It’s like taking a bath after five other people took a bath in that same water, how clean would you feel?
Secret No. 2 – Jerk Revenge – Claims that customers who are impolite are treated maliciously by some cleaners who only pretend to clean their clothes.
The 20/20 segment will show the remaining, secrets on the list along with a sting operation. Now we decided to turn the tables and we brought ten shirts and ten pairs of pants with identical stain, mustard, wine and nail Polish to ten different dry cleaners and you’re not going to believe what we found,Jarvis said.
See the Good Morning America segment here (after the obligatory ad):
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/dry-cleaners-dirtiest-secrets-22796697
A second item promoting the 20/20 story appeared on ABC’s website. Busted: 6 Dry Cleaning Myths You Were Wrong About features an interview with Debra Kravet of Apthorp Cleaners in New York City. They cover six misconceptions people may have had about drycleaning in a sensationalist manner. It starts with the famous club soda stain remover myth, touches on gender pricing, and how too much dry cleaning can be supposedly bad for a garment. Read the full report here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/busted-dry-cleaning-myths-wrong/story?id=22785180
There is a comments section at the end of the article, though it requires users to register with Disqus. See the page for more information.
