Gerald Ratner

Gerald Irving Ratner (born 1 November 1949) is a British businessman. He was formerly chief executive of the British jewellery company Ratner Group, now called the Signet Group. Ratner achieved notoriety after making a speech in 1991 where he jokingly denigrated his company's products as "total crap", leading to the company's near-collapse and his exit from the business in 1993. The notorious speech led to the creation of the phrase "doing a Ratner", meaning to make ruinous comments about your company or products.