Sunday, October 29, 2006
Save Wal-Mart
Save Wal-Mart | Help Save Wal-Mart from the Radical Homosexual Agenda. This is either pretty subtle satire or pretty ugly intolerant hate cloaked in a religious lunacy.
I'm not gay but I have friends that are and I find these "men of god" preaching hate and disgust and intolerance to be about as un-Christian as can be. But I would defend their right to spout their ugliness because its a fundamental tenet of America, the right to air your opinion without fear of reprisal (within limits, you can't shout "Fire" in a crowded theatre for obvious reasons).
I should also note that I'm not a Christian. At best, I'm an agnostic who refuses to subscribe to any of these deeply flawed theologies that proscribe a mentality of narrow-mindedness and circumspect perspective. Give me a theology that accepts all and does not seek to attain a superiority above others and we can talk. I am, above all else, open to debate.
[Update: Sadly this is not satire and these people really do think there's a homosexual conspiracy. Which is to say, they're utterly fucking insane.]
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, hate, intolerance, satire or serious
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Couldn't Be a Karmic Backlash, Could It?
I'm not gay but I have friends that are and I find these "men of god" preaching hate and disgust and intolerance to be about as un-Christian as can be. But I would defend their right to spout their ugliness because its a fundamental tenet of America, the right to air your opinion without fear of reprisal (within limits, you can't shout "Fire" in a crowded theatre for obvious reasons).
I should also note that I'm not a Christian. At best, I'm an agnostic who refuses to subscribe to any of these deeply flawed theologies that proscribe a mentality of narrow-mindedness and circumspect perspective. Give me a theology that accepts all and does not seek to attain a superiority above others and we can talk. I am, above all else, open to debate.
[Update: Sadly this is not satire and these people really do think there's a homosexual conspiracy. Which is to say, they're utterly fucking insane.]
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, hate, intolerance, satire or serious
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Del.icio.us It
Digg It!Couldn't Be a Karmic Backlash, Could It?
Wal-Mart posts weakest monthly same-store sales in years. They attribute the much lower growth to store renovations and a slow down in women's fashions sales.
I'd attribute it to people getting tired of being treated like shit whenever they walk into the stores. And the stores looking like shit because no one gives a damn about cleaning them up. Of course, my "evidence" is anecdotal and your local Hell-Mart might be squeaky clean but that's probably just because they haven't driven their competition out of business yet. Just wait.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, sales, weak, karma
Privacy? Schmivacy! Wal-Mart Prints Fliers with Confidential Medical Information Printed on the Back
I'd attribute it to people getting tired of being treated like shit whenever they walk into the stores. And the stores looking like shit because no one gives a damn about cleaning them up. Of course, my "evidence" is anecdotal and your local Hell-Mart might be squeaky clean but that's probably just because they haven't driven their competition out of business yet. Just wait.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, sales, weak, karma
Privacy? Schmivacy! Wal-Mart Prints Fliers with Confidential Medical Information Printed on the Back
Medical Information Printed on Back of Wal-Mart Fliers as reported by IT Compliance. Basically, Wal-Mart recycled some papers from their pharmacy that happened to contain a customers private medical records. Those records got turned into fliers that were mailed out to a whole bunch of people which, effectively, destroyed the woman's privacy.
My guess is that Wal-Mart will try to get her to settle out of court for a rather sizable payment. And well they should, this sort of privacy breach is beyond the pale and demonstrates a serious lack of proper business process in containing and destroying private records within Wal-Mart.
And yes, if I saw this happening at another Big Box store, I'd be just as pissed off about it. There's no justification for this kind of sloppiness.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, privacy, records, oops
Monday, October 23, 2006
Target Beats Wal-Mart
My guess is that Wal-Mart will try to get her to settle out of court for a rather sizable payment. And well they should, this sort of privacy breach is beyond the pale and demonstrates a serious lack of proper business process in containing and destroying private records within Wal-Mart.
And yes, if I saw this happening at another Big Box store, I'd be just as pissed off about it. There's no justification for this kind of sloppiness.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, privacy, records, oops
Monday, October 23, 2006
Target Beats Wal-Mart
10 Reasons Target is Better than Wal-Mart
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, Target, better
Monday, October 16, 2006
The Wal-Mart Roadshow Ommission
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, Target, better
Monday, October 16, 2006
The Wal-Mart Roadshow Ommission
Strategic Public Relations: Will Edelman Walk the Talk? and Pro-Wal-Mart Travel Blog Screeches To A Halt because it was a freakin' sham!
We know PR agencies are paid to get their clients in the news, to increase mindshare, market footprint and other flaskspeak for publicity.
But what Edelman engaged in is pretty well outright fabrications of reality. A "grassroots" blog about a cross country trip with overnight stays in Wal-Mart parking lots, sponsored by Working Families for Wal-Mart, which is a paid front happy face made up by Edelman, one of the largest and, previously, well-respected PR agencies in the world.
But they attempted to game the system and pretend that this was all spur of the moment grassroots Love for TEH WAL-MART! (say it like Rocky shouted "Adrian!") When it's really nothing of the sort.
The icing is that a contributor to the blog is a photographer for the Washington post, who's since been ordered to return any money he made doing this sham blog crap, which is called a flog, stealth PR blogging. Oh yeah, Wal-Mart outfitted the RV for them too. Nice, huh?
Here's the deal, folks. People don't like Wal-Mart enough to make a blog about it without being paid. Its that simple. Edelman should have known better, I bet they do now as they sit and lick their wounds. I would certainly expect that whoever authorized the deception's no longer with the firm by now.
Follow the continuing story over at BizHack. The skinny? The silence from the Edelman blogs is deafening. And damnening.
The world has changed and its getting easier and easier to see who's been left behind.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, flog, Edelman, stupid
Friday, October 13, 2006
More Wage Misdeeds from Wal-Mart
We know PR agencies are paid to get their clients in the news, to increase mindshare, market footprint and other flaskspeak for publicity.
But what Edelman engaged in is pretty well outright fabrications of reality. A "grassroots" blog about a cross country trip with overnight stays in Wal-Mart parking lots, sponsored by Working Families for Wal-Mart, which is a paid front happy face made up by Edelman, one of the largest and, previously, well-respected PR agencies in the world.
But they attempted to game the system and pretend that this was all spur of the moment grassroots Love for TEH WAL-MART! (say it like Rocky shouted "Adrian!") When it's really nothing of the sort.
The icing is that a contributor to the blog is a photographer for the Washington post, who's since been ordered to return any money he made doing this sham blog crap, which is called a flog, stealth PR blogging. Oh yeah, Wal-Mart outfitted the RV for them too. Nice, huh?
Here's the deal, folks. People don't like Wal-Mart enough to make a blog about it without being paid. Its that simple. Edelman should have known better, I bet they do now as they sit and lick their wounds. I would certainly expect that whoever authorized the deception's no longer with the firm by now.
Follow the continuing story over at BizHack. The skinny? The silence from the Edelman blogs is deafening. And damnening.
The world has changed and its getting easier and easier to see who's been left behind.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, flog, Edelman, stupid
Friday, October 13, 2006
More Wage Misdeeds from Wal-Mart
Jury Weighs Award in Wal-Mart Labor Case by not paying them for breaks and for forcing them to work off the clock.
Funny, I have the most distinct sense of deja vu. Oh yeah, maybe because they already lost this same case in California and had to pay out $150 million or so.
You'd think they would learn that the "old ways" of squeezing every last cent out of your employees just aren't going to work anymore. We have Wal-Mart's playbook (most of it is in crayon) and they're going to need to do, you know, more to make their margins than further exploit their employees.
And yet their stock is only down a nickel today while CostCo's is down nearly a buck. WTF? Wall Street?
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, lawsuit, deja vu, exploitation
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Why Is Wal-Mart Scared Of Apple's iTunes Movie Plans?
Funny, I have the most distinct sense of deja vu. Oh yeah, maybe because they already lost this same case in California and had to pay out $150 million or so.
You'd think they would learn that the "old ways" of squeezing every last cent out of your employees just aren't going to work anymore. We have Wal-Mart's playbook (most of it is in crayon) and they're going to need to do, you know, more to make their margins than further exploit their employees.
And yet their stock is only down a nickel today while CostCo's is down nearly a buck. WTF? Wall Street?
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, lawsuit, deja vu, exploitation
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Why Is Wal-Mart Scared Of Apple's iTunes Movie Plans?
Why Is Wal-Mart Scared Of Apple's iTunes Movie Plans?
Low-Premium, High Deductible Health Insurance
Low-Premium, High Deductible Health Insurance
Wal-Mart to change new-hire health plans and make it more expensive for them to get healthcare while saving a bit more money for the shareholders.
This is going in the wrong direction, Wal-Mart. You should be forcing change in the healthcare industry. You force your suppliers to sell goods to you for less than other companies, why can't you force the healthcare industry to sell you insurance for your employees at a better rate?
Or, better yet, force the entire healthcare industry to revamp itself and come into the 21st century and actually compete for customers.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, health, deductible, insurance
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Wal-Mart Sales Slip in September
This is going in the wrong direction, Wal-Mart. You should be forcing change in the healthcare industry. You force your suppliers to sell goods to you for less than other companies, why can't you force the healthcare industry to sell you insurance for your employees at a better rate?
Or, better yet, force the entire healthcare industry to revamp itself and come into the 21st century and actually compete for customers.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, health, deductible, insurance
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Wal-Mart Sales Slip in September