Bath & Body Works Goes Back to Basics… and So Should America

Last week, Bath & Body Works Inc. stock took a nosedive after the company reported “disappointing” third-quarter earnings and slashed its full-year outlook, citing “macro consumer pressures.” Shares fell nearly 25% on Thursday, hitting a new 52-week low. Overall, B&BW stock has plunged more than 50% this year.

“Our third quarter results were below expectations, and we are lowering our outlook for the remainder of the year reflecting current business trends and continuation of recent macro consumer pressures,” said CEO Daniel Heaf. “While this is disappointing, we are acting swiftly and decisively to position the business for sustainable, long-term growth.”

Heaf announced a turnaround plan for the company, with expectations of $250 million in cost savings by 2027, aimed at attracting younger consumers and recentering the company’s focus on its core products.

Did you catch that last phrase? Bath & Body Works has decided to “recenter its focus” on its core products such as “body care, fragrances and soaps.” Imagine that! A company named after bath and body products has decided to focus on producing and selling (drum roll, please) bath and body products.

The next thing you know, Waffle House will start selling waffles!

Heaf went on to tell Wall Street analysts that B&BW will no longer be “toying” with products like laundry detergent. Good idea, because when I think of items I use to wash and groom myself in the morning, laundry detergent naturally comes to mind… NOT!

We can poke fun at Bath and Body Works for making a colossal marketing mistake the same way we did when Coca-Cola introduced New Coke in 1985 or when Cracker Barrel sent Uncle Hershel packing earlier this year, only to welcome him back after a national uproar that resulted in a $143 million loss in market share.

The problem, as I see it, is that companies all-too-often forget who they are, where they came from, and how they got where they are now. In other words, what made them successful to begin with.

For instance, McDonalds sells inexpensive hamburgers and fries… and Dunkin Donuts offers donuts and coffee on the run. They are free to add new items to their menus – and they often do – but they are smart enough to not stray too far from home. I think it’s safe to say that there will never come a day when you can’t get a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder with cheese at the Golden Arches.

Let me take this analogy a step further…

Remember when public schools taught the 3 R’s? Reading, writing, and arithmetic were what every child in K-8 learned from Seattle, Washington to Miami, Florida and from Bangor, Maine to San Diego, California. Teaching techniques may have varied from state to state and school to school, but you were sure to be introduced to Dick and Jane and See Spot Run in 1st grade, and to pick up cursive writing in 3rd. By the time you were in high school, the focus was on advanced math, the various sciences, English literature, and both U.S. and World history. And yes, you could choose to study a foreign language such as Spanish or French.

Today, kids haven’t a clue how to write in cursive and instead of focusing on the basic fundamentals, they are offered a variety of sugar-coated electives. The result is test scores that are plunging faster than Bath & Body Works stock price. The same goes for colleges, where parents can fork over big bucks to have their kids study “Taylor Swift and Her World” at Harvard or “The Last Great American Songwriter: Storytelling With Taylor Swift Through the Eras” at Stanford.

Think I’m kidding? Swifties can also enroll in “Artistry, Policy, & Entrepreneurship: Taylor’s Version” at the University of California, Berkeley or “Writing 101 Taylor’s Version” at Duke University. These are some of the leading colleges and universities in America, selling their academic souls to attract student dollars while churning out useless degrees.

Even Brigham Young University, a private research university owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has jumped aboard the Swiftie bandwagon with a class titled “Ms. Americana: Taylor Swift on Ethics and Society”. Something tells me that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young are rolling over in their Mormon graves.

Speaking of organized religion, let’s take a closer look at modern-day Christianity. Instead of simply worshipping God, studying the Bible, and proclaiming the gospel to a lost and dying world, many churches have “evolved” to the point where none of that matters much anymore. Instead, man has replaced God as the primary focus and true worship has given way to stylish entertainment, relegating the congregation to mere spectators. Worse yet, pulpits that were once filled with men of God calling people to repentance and saving faith in Christ have become as rare as the carrier pigeon. Meanwhile, their place has been taken by smooth-talking apostates who offer a watered-down version of a Jesus who would never dare to confront someone about their sin.

My friend, it is high time we got back to the basics of Christianity, which are simply this: God is holy and man is not, therefore He must punish man for his sin and cannot allow him into heaven. However, God’s love compelled Him to provide a Savior to live a perfect life and die in our place, paying the penalty for our sins so that we may be forgiven. Because of Jesus’ shed blood on our behalf, we can now spend eternity in heaven by repenting of our sins and placing our faith and trust in Him. THAT is the gospel message!

One final point…

When our Founding Fathers established the United States of America, they envisioned a very limited role for the federal government. It was to protect our country and its citizens from enemies foreign and domestic, make treaties, promote and regulate trade… and that’s about it. Sure, times have changed and our nation has grown from an agrarian society of 2.5 million colonists to an industrial giant with 330 million people. However, government’s fundamental responsibilities haven’t really changed all that much. Protect its citizens, maintain its infrastructure as well as law and order (our Founders called it “domestic tranquility”)… and then get the heck out of the way and let us live our lives as we see fit.

That’s the American way. It’s also the Capitalist way, the Christian way, and the proper way to educate our children.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.