Thinking of shopping at Wal-Mart this Holiday Season?

[One Sweet World]

Run time: 00:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seNkmC-SQgs   Posted on YouTube: November 23, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: November 24, 2008 By DU Member: One Sweet World Views on DU: 2094

 
I'm doing some work with Wake Up Walmart and we have this new ad out. What do you think?

[onehandle]

1. If only they had Wal-Mart's advertising budget. nt

[ihavenobias]

14. It's a very professional looking ad though.

And the voiceover was good too.

[onehandle]

20. Oh, it's a good ad. I was talking about getting it out there.

Think about the ad running a handful of time during prime time programming.

Wal-Mart would be up in arms.

[ihavenobias]

22. I agree. n/t

[One Sweet World]

25. You should. And visit WakeUpWalmart.com too!

[Pastiche423]

28. I'm on their mailing list

Two years ago, they even had a booth at our local street festival. Unfortunately, they got the same looks I do when I say I do not shop at walliys.

[madmom]

2. Serious question here, what's the difference between buying things from

Wal-mart that are made in China and buying foreign cars that are made in any other country? People on the board are always talking about their Toyota or Honda or whatever and while yes some are made here, they are still foreign brands and the majority are made overseas and the profits go over seas so what the difference here?

[DeadManInc]

3. cars are not made in sweat shops by children, but I would not

buy one anyways

[madmom]

6. well since we are not there we don't know this for sure, but even so the factories there

are notoriously anti human rights. How much of the profits from these cars go to the workers? I'm not defending Wal-mart's made in China products just want to know why it's ok to buy things that are made in China that are not sold at Wal-mart? There are many on this board who seem to think if it's from Wal-mart it's bad, even if the same product is sold at say Sears or J C Penny's for instance then they're ok with buying it, even though it may still be made in China.

[DoctorMyEyes]

7. Huge difference

Walmart forces it's vendors to continually cut prices until there's no other recourse except to shut down American factories and ship the manufacturing overseas. Two that I can think of off the top of my head are Huffy bikes and Ohio Art Toys. Oh, and also a lock company... the name escapes me right now. Americans lose decent paying jobs and are forced to take crappy service and retail jobs. Like working for Walmart - where they don't get health benefits.

Walmart workers are the biggest strain on state and federal health care insurance. In other words taxpayers subsidize Walmart by paying for the health insurance that they don't. I could go on and on, but I won't.

Toyota and Honda may send their profits back to foreign countries - but what does that mean, really? If they are providing jobs and health insurance to Americans why would the average working American care? What do you think they do with those profits? Don't they invest them in the same global markets as American companies?

American automakers have no one but themselves to blame for choosing to make crappy overpriced gas guzzling vehicles. It's not the union's fault either. Nobody working the on the line, I'm sure, was asked their opinion on the designs for the new car lines.

In my opinion the important thing is to keep Americans earning a decent living. And that ain't important to Walmart.

[madmom]

15. First off I live about 50 miles from Ohio Art, they didn't close their doors. Secondly yes they

did out-source some of their jobs. But what I'm asking is WHY do people keep blaming it soley on Wal-mart when it's just as much the fault of other companies too. To me that is the same as saying george bush started the Iraq war alone, even though the others had a hand in it he was the only one who should be punished because he is the leader. The reasoning here is wrong. They are shipping are jobs overseas ALL should be penalized/punished.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/07/international/asia/07CHIN.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5070&en=79aa0d2d25065edd&ex=122767560

Seems to me we should boycott Ohio art also, and that's just 1 example.

[Ysabela]

9. You think all Asians are the same?

Toyota and Honda are Japanese brands, not Chinese. There's a HUGE difference in what that means to how they are produced. Japan is not Communist China.

And there's also a HUGE difference between the crap products China pumps and dumps into our market, and the high quality, cutting edge cars that foreign auto-makers sell in America. GM, Ford, etc are failing because of their own failed vision and innovation, not because some foreign competitor is allowed to put poisons and chemicals in crap products that would never be approved by the FDA for an American company, and undercut prices dramatically because of the lack of import safety standards that are regulated and enforced.

If GM or Ford were making cars like the ones Hybrid Technologies makes (www.hybrditechnologies.com), maybe they wouldn't be losing so much business to a competitor in Japan. I'm proud to buy American alternatives to the crap China produces and pay a lil extra for it, but until American auto-makers get their asses out of the 1970's I refuse to buy their products.

Good enough reason for you?


PS. Doesn't everyone kinda consider Japan to be an America-lite anyways? We're kinda symbiotic countries, and influence each other's cultures heavily especially in the field of technology advances. They're not really "competitors" but allies. GM and Ford should be copying Toyota as fast as Microsoft copies Apple :P

[madmom]

11. Talk about putting words in my mouth, I didn't say "all Asians were the same" I did say

"Toyota and Honda and such" meaning ALL foreign cars! I'm just saying that people think it's ok to buy foriegn cars because they don't use child labor (yes that is a good thing) but they still are anti labor. They are still anti worker's rights.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122754652262553471.html

these people aren't even allowed to protest and if they do they go to jail no trial. Just because they make some cars here that makes everything else null and void?

[Ysabela]

13. Your link is about protests in China.

Again, China does not equal Japan. They are two different countries. They are two different cultures. I don't know anyone that's bought a Chinese car. I know a lot of people that buy Japanese cars though.

American car companies employ people for a lifetime of labor, then dump them and screw them over by taking their pensions away and giving CEO's multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses. That's what you support if you buy American cars. There's no such thing as an ethically-produced car when it comes to cars that are mass-manufactured by giant corporations. They all have ethical shortcomings, so it's more of a matter of who makes the better product.

You can cry that it's not fair to American workers to buy Japanese cars. Well, then their union should throw their weight behind a green startup, give a startup a large enough labor backing that it could actually produce enough green cars to not only stay afloat, but actually compete on a nation-wide scale. But the unions are like battered wives, they've been abused for decades by the big 3 but always come back for more. The big 3 need to die in order for a green generation to rise from the ashes.

[madmom]

16. And what do you propose to do about the 3 million plus jobs that will be lost? How many more people

will the unemployment rolls handle. The state of Ohio is running out of money for theirs, they've already had to ask for loans.

[Ysabela]

17. Making green cars =/= unemployment. n/t

[madmom]

19. This is going to happen over night?

[Heather MC]

10. Where do the profits go when you buy used?

I never purchase new cars, I tend to buy my cars useds from Auctions, or really small car lots.
doesn't that money stay in this country? I have a honda, but I bought it from an American dealer.

Personally I will never buy a brand new car. I don't see the point in paying the extra money just to say I bought it with no miles on it.

When I get a car, all the options are already there, and my taxes are way lower because it's not considered brand new. though it's new to me.

I would love to learn how to convert my current vehicle to be more energy efficient. Instead of buying a new car that runs on alternative fuels.

[madmom]

12. Now that IMO is a totally different subject.

[progressoid]

27. Here:

part1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GINui9LdIQ
part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOSWESxpYkA
part3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EyEmMht3yQ
part4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJIUc7w5aYE
part5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L05Jc1mPkJw
part6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0kCex3r5wM
part7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vjSA9dGA6w
part8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCuWo4Vch2k
part9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIkIyw-VkMc
part10: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki4w8gC_bb0
part11: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrcT-mht7Fo

[prostock69]

4. I quit going to WalMart years ago. Their name needs to be changed to China Mart

[ksimons]

5. lol @ China-Mart -

true

[quidam56]

18. CHINA RISING

While Appalachia sinks. THE COAL INDUSTRY comes in to Appalachia, dynamite, blast, blow up 350 million year old mountains, send the coal to China to power their economy, government, military and schools. The schools in Wise County, Virginia are so old and outdated ( here in KING COAL country ) the technology is there at Pound High School and Appalachia High School but don't have the ability to power what kids in Appalachia deserve so they can compete on a global scale. Thanks to Presidebt Bush and THE COAL INDUSTRY Appalachia is rapidly becoming a Third World America. It doesn't make sense, our coal and mountains are gone, yet we can go to Walmart and buy cheap toxic toys, toothpaste, powdered milk, pet food AND fresh produce from China which has been fertilized with Night Soil or in other words, human waste. That's some bargain isn't it ? Then when THE COAL INDUSTRY is finished with one mountain they move on to the next after filing for bankruptcy to keep their greedy ill gotten gains at the expense of people, leaving behind a toxic moonscape and no one accountable. END MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL ! http://www.wisecountyissues.com

[Unca Jim]

8. One Bumper Sticker I have is...

Mao Mart
Always made with Communist Slave Labor. Always.

Cracks me up every time.

[southernyankeebelle]

21. And what

Well I tell you friend I wish I could shop at a mom and pop store and was resonable with prices. We did have a dime store in town but it's gone. The only store we have here is a Super Wal Mart. We have JC Penney, Goody's, and a couple of more stores. But I can't afford some of the things at those stores. I buy what I can afford. Plus my family member works there. I wished my family member could find another place to work but living in these rural towns there aren't many stores. So I am going to support work my family member works. Until our government tries to get back some of these companies back in the state. I did however bought a american car. After I bought it the dealership closed down.

[HopeHoops]

23. Take the WalMart challenge!

You have exactly one hour to find a non-consumable product in WalMart that is made in the USA. On the other hand, why waste an hour?

[FloridaJudy]

24. I've got one

I must admit I've occasionally bought craft supplies from MallWart, though not recently. The last time I was there checking out the beading supplies I spotted some fake bronze Chinese coins labeled "Made in the US". Let's see now: 99% of the crap they sell is made in China, except for the Chinese coins.

My brain hurts.

[dodger501]

26. Only 70% of Wal-Mart crap made in China?

I would have thought closer to 99 . . .

[Duppers]

29. The Story of Stuff

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

This should be a must-watch for everyone.

[OneBlueSky]

30. I'm a proud "Never been to Wal-Mart" kinda guy . . .

not once have I ever crossed a Wal-Mart threshold . . . I do my discount shopping at Costco . . .