Wal-Mart Inspires Creativity

[Eric J in MN]

...from people who make short videos against Wal-Mart.

For example, these promos for a movie about Wal-Mart directed by Robert Greenwald which will be released in November (mentioned earlier at SpeakSpeak.)

Also this animation from JibJab, the brothers who put singing cartoon characters on the web.

JibJab got sued for an earlier work, their song parody-cartoon of "This Land Is Your Land" by the song's alleged copyright holders. The Electronic Frontier Foundation helped prove that Woody Guthrie song from 1945 is in the public domain, and the lawsuit was dropped.

This time JibJab chose even an older song. The Wal-Mart cartoon uses the song, "Oh! Susanna," written by Stephen C. Foster in 1848.

Update

A visitor to The Daily Kos named jlynne asks, "Is anyone else old enough to remember when Sam Walton first started WalMart and its claim to fame was that everything they sold was made in America?"

I wasn't aware Wal-Mart originally used Made-in-America as a selling point.


Also posted at SpeakSpeak News.

[tlsmith1963]

1. They Did

They used to say that everything in their stores was made in America. Notice that they don't say this now, & yet the "patriotic" Freeper morons continue to shop there. Hypocrites.

Tammy

[Eric J in MN]

2. Thanks, I'll update the article at SpeakSpeak

to just end with the quote about Wal-Mart used to proudly state Made-in-America.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. The made in America

hype wasn't all that long ago!

[Yogi]

4. Yes, that was there moto....

That's when I used to shop there. Not any more.

[nashville_brook]

5. oh HELL yeah! i remember that.

[chalky]

6. Oh yeah. "Made in America" was a BIG BIG part of early Walmart.

This was back before they infiltrated the big city markets. The "Made in America" schtick ended shortly after they started building in larger cities.

Okay, to be fair, I don't think it was a schtick to Sam Walton. But his kids pretty much perverted the whole idea while at the same time exploiting the phrase.

Much like a political party I know.

[ptolle]

18. human scale

It's not just the big city markets. It's the "super" big box marts in every shopping region that'll halfway support one. I recall that the original wal-marts were built to a more human scale. The new ones they need to give you a map and a couple sandwiches with your shopping cart or require you to file an expedition plan so your friends and relatives would have a chance of finding you when you don't return on time. I avoid them like the plague, sam's clubs too.

[prairierose]

7. Yes, that was the motto they used....

but more than that, Sam Walton had a division to help small businesses in America become more efficient so that they would be better prepared for any competition. It wasn't everything that they sold but they did try to buy as many American products as they could. They also had a program to work with manufacturers to do away with or reduce unnecessary packaging.

All of that changed when Sam Walton died.

[napi21]

10. That's what I remember too! It changed when Sam died!

I remember the first WM I stopped in when it first opened! The decorating theme was all red/white/blue, and the "Made in America" signs were everywhere! Sam Walton was a very respected business man.

THEN THE KIDS TOOK OVER!!!!

[dkofos]

12. That was the walmart I shopped at because

I respected the way they did business.

Since Sam died I have lost all respect and rarely give them my money.

[China_cat]

14. Not only that but Sam Walton

even though he didn't like unions, was willing to pay prevailing wage and provide benefits. In his day the only reason the unions couldn't get a foothold with his employees was because they couldn't offer better than what they were getting.

A good object lesson in why not to leave your kids a pile of money.

[dkofos]

15. Indeed!!

[trotsky]

8. Even when "Made in America" was their shtick,

I think they had a lot of things made in Guam and other US territories, where labor laws don't apply.

[Whoa_Nelly]

9. Something to use when dealing w/those who shop WallyWorld

An older article (Oct. 2003), but still true today as it deals with facts.

At Wal-Mart, "a cult masquerading as a company", you can buy everything from apples to car parts and save money. But only at the expense of others, both at home and abroad - America


<snip>
Wal-Mart was founded by one of America's first billionaires, the late Sam Walton, who boasted about the products being "Made in America". But now the tags are much more likely to read "Made in China": Wal-Mart bought $12bn worth of goods from that country last year, The company's lobbying power in Washington is such that it has successfully opposed import tariffs and quotas, and has been able to promote unregulated trade with the third world, Thus thousands of textile and other workers in America, including those in the cotton industry in the south, have been replaced by workers in Asian sweatshops earning a few pennies per hour. Shoppers at Wal-Mart enjoy savings at the expense of thousands of US workers and untold numbers of workers in the third world.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FQP/is_4661_132/ai_110730556

[Eric J in MN]

16. Thanks, I hyper-linked the word "Wal-Mart"

at SpeakSpeak News to go to that article in response to your post.

[Whoa_Nelly]

19. Here's a TinyURL to the article link

http://tinyurl.com/c35xa

[madrchsod]

11. sam`s pledge was if he could find a product

that was made in america he would sell it if it meant the factory was to close. after all he built his business on small town america that could`t afford or who no longer had sears,wards,and other major retailers. back in the old days than regularly promoted made in the usa.
Menard's and Farm & Fleet here in the midwest still promote made in america in their adverts

[chat_noir]

13. "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" PBS

Online - 60 min version

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/view/


Greenwald's Wal-Mart DVD is not available at amazon.com hmmmm?

But, you can get his documentary collection:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0008FPKIO/102-8095046-2744941?v=glance&n=130&n=507846&s=dvd&v=glance

[Eric J in MN]

17. Maybe they will that dvd next month after it's released (nt)

nt

[jgilliam]

20. you can pre-order the greenwald doc at walmartmovie.com

http://www.walmartmovie.com/watch.php

[durablend]

21. Netflix has it

Not available yet, but you can save it to your queue so you'll get it when it comes out. They also have the Frontline one while Blockbuster has neither of them.