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Everyone over here is getting a chuckle over the Oprah vs. Hermès flap.
There seems be a lot of back-and-forth about what happened and who-said-what when Oprah wasn’t allowed into Hermès to buy a watch for her pal Tina Turner (I had the same problem with her as well. Tina is so particular about which brand of watch she’ll wear.)

The kinds folks at Hermès treated Oprah like they would treat anyone who tried to come into the shop —15 minutes after the store had closed.

In France, Closed means Closed. Just like the doors on the Métro. If you’re not in the Métro and the doors are closing, they ain’t holding ’em open for you. It’s in or out. And if you’re stuck between them…ouch! (Trust me, those doors are strong.)

Hermès didn’t do anything unusual. Why should she get special treatment or an apology? Get over yourself, girlfriend. I had to when I got here. It ain’t all about the customer. She needs to wait until opening hours for a $13,000 Birkin bag just like the rest of us have to.

But don’t get me wrong, I feel the same way about Oprah that Tom feels about Katie. (Truly!…and I don’t even have a movie to promote, but someday I may, so I’d better be nice now just in case.) She is so hip and ‘right-on’ about everything and gives away new cars and cool stuff (and now has fabulous abs on top of everything else, damn her, is there anything she doesn’t have?) But has anyone called her to the mat for promoting junk-food in her magazine while preaching a weight-loss program and doling out “feel-good” lifestyle tips?

“Do not spend another summer fat! Get Oprah’s weight loss secrets and favorite snacks. Beat your chocolate cravings! Get the plan for fab abs. Plus, your questions answered. Portion sizes? Low carb? Low fat? If you need to lose weight, this is the show for you!”
-from Oprah.com

Glancing through her magazine, (and no, I didn’t buy it…someone left me a copy. Honest. Although I did enjoy the articles, “Are You Too PC?” and “This Month, It’s You Time!”…which was helpful, since I was wondering when things were going to get around to being “My” time.)

But I was rather surprised to see who advertised within…

Honey Clusters breakfast cereal, Coke, Fanta and Sprite,
Hi-C, some icky-looking Honey Snack Bars, McDonald’s Egg McMuffins, bottled salad dressing, Keebler Fruit Delights cookies, Quaker Oats Breakfast Squares, Teddy Grahams Cubs “Fun Packs”, Kraft Cheese Nips “Sport Crisps”, Taco Rice mix, Country Crock Microwavable mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese, Jose Cuervo Margarita Minis, and Jell-O Sundae Toppers.

I can’t figure out which of these promotes weight loss…
And can anyone tell me what the heck a ‘sport crisp’ is?

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5 comments

    • Richard AB

    She should apologize for her bad behavior. Just because you are rich doesn’t mean you know better. As far as magazines go, one of the primary reasons for a magazines existance is to sell ads. Did you ever notice that all the magazines articles are on the undiserable left pages? What does her publishers care about their readers when that can make a million bucks from Kraft?

    In the USA “Closed” means “Closed” too, unless you are waving $13,000 at the door.

    • Tanvi

    I love the fact that money doesn’t get you everywhere in France- too bad it doesn’t seem to be true elsewhere.

    PS. I been enjoying your blog for a while, though it’s my first time commenting.

    • David

    Very funny Pim. Poor Oprah! But at least we now know why her hair looks like that!
    Hi Tanvi, glad you’re enjoying the blog. Money certainly doesn’t get you anywhere in France…although sometimes I wish it would! (Like, would it kill the folks at Berthillon ice cream to remain open in the hot summer months, instead of closing for most of July and all of August, when I want my Berthillon ice cream?) I guess like Oprah, it’s all about ‘Me’…

    David

    • Martin

    The truth is Oprah is totally unknown in France. People vaguely hear about her, but that’s it. There IS a show similar to her’s but not directly related.

    So the guy at the store probably thought “Who the hell does she think she is ? another one of these new riches….”

    SO yeah it IS humiliating, not because she has been described as the most influential person in the world means it’s true, do you think chinese people know who she is ? Come on people, europeean people barely know what baseball is, why should they know who oprah is ?

    Plus she’s not particularly “class”, she looks like a clown to a French person.

A

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