http://www.scrappleface.com/MT/archives/000919.html#000919

ScrappleFace ^ | 05/18/2003

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

(2003-05-18) -- Wal-Mart announced today that it will offer more books and recordings that most people don't want. The move comes in response to an article in The New York Times which said that the nation's biggest retailer sells too many conservative and faith-oriented books and videos effectively homogenizing the culture.

"We have no right to force our customers to buy millions of copies of Bernard Goldberg, Ann Coulter, Michael Savage, the Left Behind series, the Bible and Veggie Tales videos," said an unnamed Wal-Mart spokesman. "It's our obligation to occupy shelf space with things that our customers don't want to buy."

Editors at The New York Times said they still may exclude Wal-Mart sales figures when compiling the NYT best-seller list.

"If you look at Wal-Mart sales," said an unnamed editor, "You would think that America was made up of generally-conservative people who have faith in God. Here in New York we know that's not true. The best-seller list should reflect the real American culture as we know it."

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Cut-n-paste fiasco... please update thread title to 'Wal-Mart To Offer More Books That Few People Read'. Thanks!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

This afternoon I browsed a section of most-popular paperbacks... I didn't see any Christian or Conservative Material in those books that were offered. Just Danielle Steel, Jude Devereaux, etc. YUCK. Does anybody read those?

[dvan]

"It's our obligation to occupy shelf space with things that our customers don't want to buy."

Now that exemplifies greating marketing savvy! Sam Walton must be spinning in his grave. It looks like Wal-Mart has been promoting people based on diversity!

[Ma Li]

If this report is true, then Wal-Mart is going to be one of the few businesses in America that is able to succeed by providing things which people don't desire to buy.

I could be wrong--but when when businesses do that, um, don't they start going under, rather then becoming the most popular place in the country for people to shop?

The last time I was in there, there were no salespeople pinning customers to the floor, ripping the money from their pockets and forcing them to by Left Behind books.

Then again, the New York Times might have made the whole story up...

[powderhorn]

I could be wrong--but when when businesses do that, um, don't they start going under, rather then becoming the most popular place in the country for people to shop?

Um...(returning your thoughtful, questioning pause) I think it depends on what one is marketing. If it's just books that are the object of marketing, perhaps Walmart might lose sales in direct proportion to how far away they stray from the best-seller list. But if they are less concerned about selling books and are more concerned about repackaging the image of Walmart, they just might sell more toasters.

[Praxeas]

The website, scrappleface.com, is a satirical website. Its articles are satire.

[Ma Li]

Ahhh! Satire! Wonderful, thanks for the tip. I was gotten good. :-) Since satirewire.com went off, I've not followed the satire internet world so much anymore.