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Walmart - 12/15/2007 5:27:27 AM   
Termyn8or


Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
Status: offline 		Has anyone seen the recent anti-Walmart commercials ?

Yup, timed just right for Christmas and cutting pretty deep. Many of us know about Walmart, their business practices and all that. But to actually have a TV commercial about it ?

Now let's examine the issue just a bit further. Walmart is almost like a monopoly, not quite, but in fact they do not have to advertise at all anymore, but they do it anyway. I had a question long ago about why utility companies, which are in most cases monopolies, advertise. Well I figured it out.

They are buying the airwaves. A big paying advertiser can influence the news shows, basically because the media outlet becomes dependent on them for revenue. So Walmart advertises. Therefore it must have taken alot of money to air an anti-Walmart ad of this nature.

So who is behind these ads ? Kmart ? JC Penny ? Sears ? An association of dollar stores and closeout outlets ?

Normally I zone out from the emanations of the idiot box, but this really caught my ear. Very unusual.

T
Profile   Post #: 1
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 5:33:38 AM   
velvetears


Posts: 2933
Joined: 6/19/2006
Status: offline 		Haven't seen them - can you explain what they do in them? 

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RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 5:38:24 AM   
knight4king


Posts: 13
Joined: 2/23/2006
Status: offline 		Its a grocery store union backed by Kroger, Safeway and a Belgian company called Delhaize Group which owns a dozen or so chains here like Hannafords.

< Message edited by knight4king -- 12/15/2007 5:41:19 AM >

(in reply to Termyn8or)
Profile   Post #: 3
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 5:48:01 AM   
Owner59


Posts: 17033
Joined: 3/14/2006
From: Dirty Jersey
Status: offline 		 Pretty compelling,if true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXF2DvNO480

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/

< Message edited by Owner59 -- 12/15/2007 5:50:39 AM >

(in reply to knight4king)
Profile   Post #: 4
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 7:18:11 AM   
sub4hire


Posts: 6775
Joined: 1/1/2004
Status: offline 		Yep seen them.  I somehow doubt it is going to hurt Walmart this holiday season though.
It's Christmas and we are headed for a recession, people need cheap.

(in reply to Termyn8or)
Profile   Post #: 5
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 9:52:11 AM   
ItalianSMistress


Posts: 427
Joined: 1/19/2007
From: Niagara Region Ontario Canada
Status: offline 		I dont know about that, I worked for Wal-Mart Canada for many years, I dont anymore, but I never walked away from the company with a bad taste in My mouth.  Anyway, My first thought, is that here in Canada, a certain amount of the product has to be made in Canada, I dont know about the US.  But also, they sell the same items as most other places, so if you buy your barbie or whatever there or at Toys R Us, is it not the same barbie?  Made at the same factory?

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RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 11:12:09 AM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		Some say not to shop there. Well the same junky crap is pretty much everywhere. I like Popeyes mode- to simply not buy junk.  When I was a kid- a product had to stand "merchantability of purpose"- meanining say a garden hose had to spread water- but not be used as rope. The product had to be fit for its intended purpose. This summer I returned a hose to Cxxxs Hardware.  The manager [maybe 20 yrs old] scolded me - what did I expect he wonderred.  Well-  a garden hose should be able to water a garden and not wear out after one watering!  Of course I am the azzhole.

Add to this mix- lead in toys- cat food that kills cats- and food the has e-coli.  We are so advanced;  gag me.

(in reply to ItalianSMistress)
Profile   Post #: 7
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 11:14:07 AM   
SugarMyChurro


Posts: 1912
Joined: 4/26/2007
Status: offline 		Wal-mart is only cheaper on loss leader products. Everything else is the same price or higher in price than the competition. The products are specially made for Wal-mart in many cases and are accordingly lesser in quality than competitor offerings. Music CDs and DVDs may also be specially edited for Wal-mart stores - in other words, censored for your entertainment.

There is no upside.

(in reply to ItalianSMistress)
Profile   Post #: 8
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 11:16:22 AM   
velvetears


Posts: 2933
Joined: 6/19/2006
Status: offline 		i avoid Wallmart when possible.  It's convenient but i don't like theplace - now i like it even less. i certainly won't buy food there that's for sure.

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Profile   Post #: 9
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 11:24:53 AM   
pahunkboy


Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline 		My chiropractor has been to China a few times. While he is there he buys chothes. He says they are quality. Walmart tells them their specs. So thats the problem.  Also- each year a supplier must reduce its price by 4%.  So being that US CEO "specs" are bottem rate- that would explain the apoligy to China.

I dont think I would want a heart valve from there or a nuclear reactor part from there.

The system is right- the peon is wrong. 

More people die in car accidents then 9-11. The real damage of 9-11 wasnt the run-away planes--it is the iron fisted state control that George Orwell now lives with.  Hello George Orwell. Signed, George Orwell. 

(in reply to velvetears)
Profile   Post #: 10
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 11:35:29 AM   
subfever


Posts: 2895
Joined: 5/22/2004
Status: offline 		Yeah, I typically avoid Wal Mart too. However, I literally pass one by traveling back and forth to the gym three days a week. And I admit to quickly stopping there once or twice a year when I really need something and happen to be more focused on the convenience of it all. I never feel good about it afterwards though.

I've never bought food there. Here in the Chicago area we have a food chain called Aldi's. Their prices beat Wal Mart, and they have a better selection. I buy most of my food at Trader Joe's, but I do buy a few items at an Aldi's regularly, which also happens to be located within my commute to and from my gym.

edited to add: No, I haven't seen the anti Wal Mart commercial yet.


< Message edited by subfever -- 12/15/2007 11:38:07 AM >

(in reply to velvetears)
Profile   Post #: 11
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 12:41:48 PM   
cloudboy


Posts: 7306
Joined: 12/14/2005
Status: offline
I just finished reading SUPERCAPITALISM by Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor under Clinton.

One thesis of his book as that we citizens need to stop pointing fingers at companies who follow the laws of the market, or who play the game as the market allows. Why? Because such finger-pointing actually contributes to the core problems of slave labor, substandard wages, union busting, monopoly concerns, and the evisceration of main street. (Problems attributed to Walmart.)

Societal and economic problems, Reich argues, will not be changed or addressed by vilifying Walmart or other any individual business. No, such problems need to be addressed by looking at the the laws which allow for such unseemly business practices in the first place.

By criticizing or vilifying Walmart, Reich states, attention is actually diverted away from the core aspect of the problem itself: the lack of democratic, civic regulation of our "free markets."

In other words, one should not condemn a company profiting from child labor, if such practices are legal. No, one should pass child labor laws instead.

(in reply to Termyn8or)
Profile   Post #: 12
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 12:56:24 PM   
FatDomDaddy


Posts: 3183
Joined: 1/31/2004
Status: offline 		How in the world is Wal-Mart a monopoly?

Target
K-Mart/Sears
JC Penny
Best Buy
Circuit City
Boscov's
Costco
BJ's
Dillards
Khols
The area bunch more I am sure.

Shopping Target is the same as shoping Wal-Mart................

(in reply to cloudboy)
Profile   Post #: 13
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 1:07:08 PM   
cloudboy


Posts: 7306
Joined: 12/14/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: FatDomDaddy

How in the world is Wal-Mart a monopoly?

Target
K-Mart/Sears
JC Penny
Best Buy
Circuit City
Boscov's
Costco
BJ's
Dillards
Khols
The area bunch more I am sure.

Shopping Target is the same as shoping Wal-Mart................



The thing about Walmart is that its the biggest Company in America, and it exerts a profound influence over our marketplace. The Walmart model forces competitors and suppliers to drive down costs --- and such a cost cutting retail model --- built on an anti-union platform and cheap Chinese labor -- forces every other company in the market to follow the same practices.

Consumers and investors win, but labor loses and environmental factors such as pollution aren't factored into the price of goods, as they should be.

Correctly, you note that pointing fingers at Walmart is a silly. All criticism should be targeted at the marketplace itself, not the businesses legally operating within it. As US citizens, we can better set the terms of our own markets and how they operate. This is where our attention would be better spent.


< Message edited by cloudboy -- 12/15/2007 1:09:43 PM >

(in reply to FatDomDaddy)
Profile   Post #: 14
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 1:57:07 PM   
FatDomDaddy


Posts: 3183
Joined: 1/31/2004
Status: offline 		Wait a second... nobody is putting a gun to Black and Deacker, Remmington, Sony, Lexmark, General Mills, Proctor and Gamble, or any other manufactuer to put stuff in these stores. And if Wal-Mart says, it wants 1,000,000 wax on widgets and they will pay no more that 4 dollars a peice for them, the wax on widget co. can always say no.

(in reply to cloudboy)
Profile   Post #: 15
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 2:04:13 PM   
wistfulmale


Posts: 15
Joined: 12/6/2007
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: FatDomDaddy

Wait a second... nobody is putting a gun to Black and Deacker, Remmington, Sony, Lexmark, General Mills, Proctor and Gamble, or any other manufactuer to put stuff in these stores. And if Wal-Mart says, it wants 1,000,000 wax on widgets and they will pay no more that 4 dollars a peice for them, the wax on widget co. can always say no.


What you're not taking into consideration is that WalMart is THE 800 lb gorilla in mass merchandisers.

I've worked for a long time in CPG companies, I know how these guys operate. And yes, you can walk away from them, but it'll hurt. And hurt A LOT.

Case in point: Rubbermaid. Rubbermaid went to WalMart, saying, "Look, our products are made from petroleum-based materials. The prices since we've signed that contract have gone up. Our costs have gone up. If we can't renegotiate the contract, we're going to lose money. If we can't sell to you, we're going to lose money."

WalMart told them that the contract was the contract. Either honor it or they wouldn't sell Rubbermaid's stuff that year.

Rubbermaid walked. And lost about 80% of their buisness. They wound up having to "merge" with a competitor to stay afloat.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2003-01-28-walmartnation_x.htm

Yes, you can walk away, but it hurts a whole, whole lot.

(in reply to FatDomDaddy)
Profile   Post #: 16
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 2:35:58 PM   
NaiveTempest


Posts: 345
Joined: 11/20/2006
From: North Carolina
Status: offline 		I have a company (I won't say the name least I find myself with no tv, phone, or internet) that controls so much of the media out here that even the courts can't seem to stop them (I know of a company that tried that route). I don't go to Walmart because I see it as a bit of an monopoly as well. I like to give other stores, especially smaller ones, a chance. I agree that the laws allowing this abuse of other countries' citizens for cheap labor need to change. If a person can't enjoy their job and isn't getting paid what they deserve for the job, how would you expect the product to turn out? Faulty pieces of crap. Mean while since so many companies are heading overseas to pay less and make more, our citizens are losing out on jobs and/or barely making ends meet. Prices go up, but pay stays the same.......

Got off subject there huh? Any way that was my first time seeing that commercial.

< Message edited by NaiveTempest -- 12/15/2007 2:36:54 PM >

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Profile   Post #: 17
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 2:37:44 PM   
Lordandmaster


Posts: 10943
Joined: 6/22/2004
Status: offline 		There's a recent review that defuses many of Reich's pseudo-arguments:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20853

Of course I agree that the way to control corporations is to pass laws restricting their behavior.  (I hear that that makes me a Communist.)

quote:

ORIGINAL: cloudboy

I just finished reading SUPERCAPITALISM by Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor under Clinton.

One thesis of his book as that we citizens need to stop pointing fingers at companies who follow the laws of the market, or who play the game as the market allows. Why? Because such finger-pointing actually contributes to the core problems of slave labor, substandard wages, union busting, monopoly concerns, and the evisceration of main street. (Problems attributed to Walmart.)

Societal and economic problems, Reich argues, will not be changed or addressed by vilifying Walmart or other any individual business. No, such problems need to be addressed by looking at the the laws which allow for such unseemly business practices in the first place.

By criticizing or vilifying Walmart, Reich states, attention is actually diverted away from the core aspect of the problem itself: the lack of democratic, civic regulation of our "free markets."

In other words, one should not condemn a company profiting from child labor, if such practices are legal. No, one should pass child labor laws instead.

(in reply to cloudboy)
Profile   Post #: 18
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 2:57:23 PM   
FangsNfeet


Posts: 3758
Joined: 12/3/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: cloudboy


Correctly, you note that pointing fingers at Walmart is a silly. All criticism should be targeted at the marketplace itself, not the businesses legally operating within it. As US citizens, we can better set the terms of our own markets and how they operate. This is where our attention would be better spent.



Most US citizens go for the best bargin and cheapest price. When people see an exact product for a cheaper price, where do you think they'll go?

The only two things I don't buy from Wal Mart are beef and clothes. Faded Glory just doesn't cut it for me. I only buy it for the homeless are when works says I have to wear a pair of slacks while on the industry line. There new beef suppy comes from a pre packing industry that can't cut a decent sirloin worth shit.  

I perfer quality over price. When two items of the same quality are sold for a different price, then I'll go where it's cheapest.




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Profile   Post #: 19
RE: Walmart - 12/15/2007 3:40:50 PM   
YourhandMyAss


Posts: 5516
Joined: 6/25/2006
From: Sacramento
Status: offline 		I really used to like walmart till they started discontinuing the craft and quilting department. they company is on my shit list cause that was an important department for mom and I.

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Profile   Post #: 20
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