Activists call on Wal-Mart's Scott to probe Web snafuhttp://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B96E626B0%2DA6D5%2D4647%2DA373%2D00EFC578B977%7D&symbol=&siteid=mktwCHICAGO (MarketWatch) - An activist group called on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Chief Executive Lee Scott Friday to launch an independent probe into how the retailer's Web site randomly linked a "Planet of the Apes" DVD to films about African-Americans.
Late Thursday, Wal-Mart apologized and shut down the automated system that was directing shoppers to movies about Martin Luther King, Tina Turner, actress Dorothy Dandridge and boxer Jack Johnson.
A screen shot of the sci-fi movie about intelligent apes and a suggest list of movie recommendations that included the four DVDs circulated the Internet Thursday.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said in a statement that the company was "heartsick that this happened."
"We were horrified to discover that some hurtful and offensive combinations are being mapped together," she said.
Paul Blank, director of the Wake Up Wal-Mart campaign that has been keeping close track of the retailer's mishaps, called the incident "racist and insensitive." Wal-Mart has faced a number of discrimination-related charges in recent years and is defending itself in the nation's largest civil-action suit that claims the behemoth discriminated against 1.6 million women.
...more...I can only hope that the good citizens of this country cease all their purchasing from Squal-Mart.
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