Bah. Humbug. Wal*Mart. Feh.
Bah. Humbug. Wal*Mart. Feh.
November is here. Today is Election Day. Veteran's Day is
around the bend, and then Thanksgiving looms on the horizon. But
November has lost some of its usual joy, at least given what took place
two nights ago.
Watching some Sunday night television, mindless diversion between the
entertaining New Jersey political smear and dirty politics ads that
have been running with incredible frequency . . .a spot ran for
Wal*Mart. How confusing!
It had seemed. here in the NY
metro area, that we only see spots for automobiles, Geico Insurance,
the upcoming Jennifer Aniston movie, NYC Mayor Bloomberg's re-election
campaign, and those "my opponent is a worthless untrustworthy lowlife
scumbag" NJ Governor ones that run in every single commercial break.
But a cloud is now hovering over November, with a shroud of indecency
and bad taste like none other. It came in the form of a Wal*Mart
ad. Maybe I am wrong, the possibility exists that it was a programming error.
But no, in this the day of digital video file management, computerized
continuity and traffic departments at TV stations and the networks . .
.it must have been planned.
Yes, featuring the members of Destiny's Child, there was a Wal*Mart ad
celebrating the holiday season. WTF? Don't the people at
Wal*Mart's agency know that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is the
time stamp? Isn't there an unwritten law (of sanity and good
taste) that holiday season ads do not start until Santa Claus makes his
annual inaugural appearance in Herald Square?
The only acceptable punishment for this transgression would be for each
and every Wal*Mart store to either burn down -- no, they have insurance
for that -- wait, here's the proper response: may all Wal*Mart
same-store sales figures this year be at least 10% lower than last
year. That would surely tank the price per share.
But then again, would Wal*Mart respond to this by eliminating health
care coverage for its employees? Isn't that the company's long
term goal? Gee, seeing holiday season ads this early made me a
little sick. Good thing I don't work at Wal*Mart. Might
cost too much in co-pay or deductible to see the doctor.
