It looks like the busy mom of 8, Kate Gosselin, can relate to a lot of regular folks in another way today: she lost her job! After a nearly year-long relationship blogging for and promoting CouponCabin, Scott Kluth, the company’s founder and CEO wrote on the site today that,
“A series of recent events have made it clear to me that Kate Gosselin and her contributions do not align with the authenticity which we set out to build almost a decade ago, and that Ms. Gosselin is simply not a good fit with the wonderful team and culture at CouponCabin.”
Not authentic? Not wonderful? Ouch!
No one likes getting a pink slip, but this one is especially caustic. Scott Kluth, tell us how you really feel! Obviously Mr. Kluth is unhappy with something that transpired between Kate’s team and Coupon Cabin. We certainly understand when celebrities and the companies they endorse part ways after a contract dispute or disagreement. We have to wonder though, is this explanation a wise decision? Did Mr. Kluth forget that Kate’s fans are used to an upbeat message about Kate’s busy household? Instead, fans were greeted with a peevish post barely disguising displeasure. What do you think about the way Coupon Cabin handled Kate’s departure?
I think this message was highly unprofessional and just adds fuel to the haters’ fire. They’ve been spamming CC for months. If Kate did something recently that warranted this, it should have been handled privately. I had never heard of CC before Kate started writing there. I’ll not be going back. Retailmenot.com is a much better couponning site anyway.
I don’t care if they part ways but the unprofessional letter is taking it too far. I’d never heard of coupon cabin before Kate blogged for them.
Maybe CouponCabin is a newer company and they haven’t figured out that if you don’t part ways professionally, no one will want to sign on with you?
I think the letter was a mistake, and a stupid one at that. Either Mr. Kluth KNOWS that Kate’s greatest following at CC were her haters, and he fed them red meat, or he screwed up.
The letter was wrong and I do believe people (excluding haters) will be offended by it. I also heard about coupon cabin thru Kate. Won’t use them again.
The letter was a really tacky thing for @couponcabin to do. Way to grab those headlines at Kate’s expense.
Rude, arrogant, and unprofessional and that is being nice.If Kate wwas not a good fit she should have been quietly terminated. He either has some sort of personal grudge or he is playing up to the haters. These people are never going to let Kate have a life. They go on the hate blogs and slam her for not promoting events on twitter but as soon as she tries to promote something they flood the boards with hatred and threats.If that is an indication of CC’s “wonderful” family I would rather not be a part of it.
I think it was ignorant. If she wasn’t a good fit she wasn’t a good fit but why be so harsh? The celebrating about it is also ignorant. This is a woman with 8 kids and a useless non paying ex husband. Surly the ‘best interests of the children’ crowd have enough brain cells to realize how negatively this effects them.
It’s such an odd letter. Normally when a company “fires” or “lets someone go” they say little or nothing.
I hope she has something else lined up.
Coupon Cabin was unprofessional. Even when Charlie Sheen was let go CBS’ announcement did not denigrate Charlie Sheen. Actually, I don’t care about the reasons Kate & CC parted ways. When one door closes another one opens.
I read on Twitter somebody saw Kate and a film crew at a club. New show in the works?
Kates latest Twitt seems upbeat. Fans more upset than her.
This letter really makes me wonder about Scott Ks character. Clearly his “feelings” were the priority when he wrote this . It just disgusted me to no end. I don’t believe it was a smart business move .
Maybe he thinks a nasty break up with Kate Gosselin will get his name out there but this won’t sit well with the general public .
Kate’s tweet did seem very upbeat – hopefully good things are ahead!
Very unprofessional of CC’s CEO. I glad that I do not work for that company. As I stated on the other thread, I un-scribed, and I told them exactly why. I hope there is something better in the works for Kate. I cannot imagine the stress that she is under trying to support eight childen all on her own.
The letter really sounded personal. I think there must be more to this. Wonder what he meant by her “support staff”?
I wonder if she will still do the Los Angeles half marathon, just not for CC.
Very unprofessional. I will no longer follow them or visit their blog.
Interesting, Ms. Goody. Hmmm.
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I think Coupon Cabin needs to hire a good HR person! 😉 I know a few. I can hook them up. Scott call Anya.
Ha! @Anya. I’m surprised by the lack of professionalism shown by Coupon Cabin – I have no problem with their decision to terminate the contract if it wasn’t working for them but there is no need to be personally insulting to her. I’m not speaking specifically as a fan of hers but just from a common-sense standpoint. They always seemed a bit low-rent for her, anyway.
Wow, what a jerk! I’m wondering exactly what he meant by “her contributions do not align with the authenticity which we set out to build”? I can’t say that I’ve ever read more than one, but this man behaves as if he was unaware of what she has been writing in the past and that yesterday was the first one he read? If they didnt “align” then it would have only made sense for them to give her a better idea of what “does align”, and then go from there. Very strange.
I doubt she made much of anything from this gig, but it’s a shame that she lost it regardless. When I google discount codes, it’s usually retailmenot that comes up.
Just disgusting IMO Not a blog I wish to visit anymore.
This made the national news this morining. I was watching NBC, and it was announced that Kate had loss her job with CC. How many other people have it announced nationally when they lose or gain a job?
Notafan, Me, too. I had always used retailmenot.com before and will now to back to it.
I red this post and although I am not a Kate fan I think it was kinda unprofessional. I did however read lots of the comments and its clear that some people liked her and some hated her. I guess they wanted to cut the tie but they could have done it alot better.
Maybe this isn’t the right place to post this, but it is similar to what Internet trolls do to Kate Gosselin daily!
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http://gokaleo.com/?p=765
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This is a woman I follow, the ridiculousness of this post is what women do to each other daily. It’s nasty and uncalled for. It IS bullying. It’s exactly what happens to Kate every single day. Disgusting.
Mr. Kluth was introduced as someone who had ‘studied the science of HOW & WHY people interact w. websites’. I.N.T.E.R.E.S.T.I.N.G. Anyone doubt that this CEO knew exactly what/who followed Kate Gosselin? CC got more free advertising using social media than they could have PAID for. The fact Radar found an ‘inside source’…that regurgitated what has been written before. Who’d expect anything else from them?
I was surprised to see CC has fewer than 24,000 followers. Her very public firing did gain him a ton of publicity HB. Time will tell if its good or bad. I hope shes laughing at his stupid letter & isn’t wasting a minute looking back. She’ll be just fine.
BH,
With thousands of coupons on the web, mailed out to customers, etc., his site is a very very small part of the coupon world. As a CEO of a company in todays markets, not a wise move to make such a silly fuss for the world to see. Shows that he is a little person, you want the best press you can get. He has brought negative attention to himself, there are millions of coupons on the internet. In the business world, that can mean death to a company.
Not a “hater” as someone said above. I only saw where he was “upset” with Kate, not her team. I was surprised by the message at first, but the more I thought about it, I am guessing she may have duped him. Which would mean the bloggers. If she’s blogging about using coupons, renting movies instead of going out, etc and then he says recent events revealed something that was not authentic, as a following of the blog (on occasion), if she was fabricating, I would want to know. I feel I deserve to know as a reader. My guess is that’s what has occurred here. Something written to the readers was deceitful or he would not have written that as a businessman. I went to the site and read through many comments of people who feel the same as me. I do think his letter didnt need to be worried as harshly, but I see nothing wrong with the intent. If it was not authentic then I don’t want to follow the advice, whether it is Kate Gosselin or a randomn Kate.
Kate Kanned?? (sorry, couldn’t resist)
All I can say is, I’m not surprised. The moderators here know me well and know I’ve never been a hater….in fact, quite the opposite for several years back when the original shows aired. But I removed myself from commenting for the most part when I became turned off by the airing of the divorce and some of Kate’s entitled comments and behavior. Kate has always been Kate, but as the attention got to her head the things that were entertaining and likeable to me about her personality were overshadowed by what seemed more and more a fascade created in her efforts to remain relatable to her fans.
I did happen to catch her of WWHL, because I watch that pretty regularly, and my reaction to Kate’s appearance was “Meh”.
As far as CC, I think the CEO’s letter was cryptic, at best. A lot of others here see it as blatantly unprofessional. I DO think it was unprofessional, but it also sounded to me like he was biting his tongue. My impression is there was a lot more he had to say, and didn’t. These kinds of comments are not *usually* generated by professional differences, and, knowing our girl Kate, I cringe at the possibility it might be borne of a personality conflict.
As always, IW Ladies, all the best. Thanks for allowing me to drop in every now and then. Hope everyone is doing well!!!
Marci
Marci –
As far as CC, I think the CEO’s letter was cryptic, at best. A lot of others here see it as blatantly unprofessional. I DO think it was unprofessional, but it also sounded to me like he was biting his tongue. My impression is there was a lot more he had to say, and didn’t. These kinds of comments are not *usually* generated by professional differences, and, knowing our girl Kate, I cringe at the possibility it might be borne of a personality conflict.
That’s got to be a big part of it. I wonder about announcing it at all. Most employers go by the less is more announcement since anything can lead to litigation. I wonder if he is trying to distance himself from saying that the book influenced the decision. The book’s author may have minimal money to lose but if CC gets dragged into litigation it could effectively shut it down.
Waving to Marci! Good to see you.
I felt that the letter was in poor taste, unnecessary, and will ultimately hurt Coupon Cabin financially. I have no problems with the fact that they let her go, but they should have just said and only if asked, that they were taking their blog in another direction, or something. Kate has enough haters. I almost wonder if they are trying to cowtow to somebody big that affects their bottom line and is a hater. I also too wonder if that book has something to do with it. If so, and if Jon helped with that book, its another blatant example of him sabatoging his ex’s ability to support their kids despite the fact that he’s not even contributing. I just don’t get it.
It has always made me sad to see how people are happy and gloating over news like this. I do not understand… (smh)
Hey, Marci! Nice to see you again.
Even if it were because Kate’s personality was intolerable to him (not saying it was)…I think it’s unprofessional (and odd) for the company CEO to “bite his tongue” on the company website where her blog would have been. I mean, who were the readers of that blog (supposed to be?) Her fans!
A proper, professional, passive-aggressive means of “biting his tongue” would have been by leaking it to a tabloid, like “sources close to Jon” have done for years. Instead, this guy comes off as irritable and unprofessional.
Yes, Carol, the gloating over this is very disappointing.
Ann,
Looks like someone has sold another story to ROL concerning this issue. Looks like someone else is finally telling some truths about it all. Using someone for your own personal gain and then kicking them to the curb when the heat is on, makes for bad company policy. Losing over 10,000 followers in a couple days should be sending a strong message to CEO Scott. There is nothing to celebrate in any of this.
The fact of the matter is that Coupon Cabin knew what they were getting when they hired Kate. They wanted the traffic and they used her to get it. I only followed them because of Kate. Unprofessional Crappy Firing=Unfollow
I am sure they did their homework before they hired Kate. They must have known what kind of home she lived in, what kind of cars that she drove, etc. She never made any of that a secret and it isn’t relevant to couponing and finding ways to saving money. They make it sound like only broke people or poor people coupon or try to find ways to save money. I wonder if CC even knows who their target market is…Besides the obvious…catering to vindictive jealous women
Wow Snickers, they have lost 10,000 followers? I noticed the haters have stopped tweeting CC already.i actually saw one of the haters on twitter tell somebody to take her “shift” because she needed to do something. How crazy is that?
From the CC site: “Reality television star Kate Gosselin, a longtime advocate of couponing, loves getting a great deal. With such a large family, she has become a true expert on saving money. She will be offering her insight on how to stretch a budget for a large family, holiday shopping tips, gift ideas and more.” They got what they asked for…her insight and perspective…Enough Said.
I thought the letter they sent out was really unprofessional. It came across like they were trying to embarass Kate. I had never heard of CC before Kate. In fact, when I google for coupons, Retail Me Not is what comes up first. I guess I’ll be sticking with them. 🙂
Well, Kate is onto other things and has a positive attitude. Wishing her success.
She just tweeted.
Kate Gosselin @Kateplusmy8
Just finished a long SUPER fun project…so good to be home but what a great time had by all involved!….A fun bright future lies ahead!
I saw that, Lily! It sounds exciting. Can’t wait to hear about it.
Like many others I never heard of C C until they signed Kate. I will not visit their site after this. They gave into the haters.. who will probably never use C C since their only purpose was to ruin Kate.
Regardless of the how and why surrounding CC’s decision, the method on how it was done is unprofessional. Releasing such a statement has surprised me, when it’s coming from a business. Someone needs to hand over to a P.R specialist and go back to their Coupon Closet. Ummm do you use the word closet? 🙂
Kate might not have aligned with Coupon Cabin, but CC seems to have no problem advertising on Kate’s Twitter time line or her website. I just saw ads on both for CC. I truly hope that Kate is getting paid for these ads. The hits to their site must have really fallen off, because I also saw an ad on CBS today for them. Those ads are not cheap. If not for Kate, most people would not know CC existed.