Huffington Post Pimps Designer 'Gifts' From Arianna
Other publishers are cutting back on holiday parties and bonuses, but not Arianna Huffington! It's designer sweaters for her long-suffering employees again this year. So long as they do an advertorial "thank you."
One of the many downsides of working for Huffington is that she draws no boundaries between her personal needs and her professional needs; between her emotional reactions to your work and some objective ideal of good performance.
The upside of being treated like a part of the emotionally volatile Huffington household: The matron feels obliged to bestow quality holiday gifts. Last year it was designer sweaters from Ports 1961 and Adam Lippes. There is agreement among recipients we've spoken with that some were truly nice, especially the men's designs, but others were either generally "fugly" or just didn't look good on certain figures.
But the sweaters were very memorable! Everyone was apparently quite curious about what the follow-on gift would be this year, when most New York publishers seem to be canceling any and all discretionary holiday spending. We'd heard from one curious HuffPo-er before the answer came: Sweaters again! And still from Ports 1961 and Adam Lippes.
One major change: In this year's celebratory holiday post, the sweaters were mentioned right up in the headline, both brands were plugged in the second sentence, and there was a catalog-like collection of sweater pictures, like these two:
This might look like an ethically questionable editorial plug bestowed by HuffPo staffers on their designers who outfit them, but do have pity: Snapping these pictures was probably far easier than coming with kind words of praise for their demanding boss. And everyone deserves a nice break this time of year.