Posts Tagged ‘wal-mart’
how to pitch prosperity »
Monday, December 22nd, 2008
The economy sucks taint. Stores have slashed into their prices (and profit margins) because people aren’t able or willing to buy. But what does that mean?
You’re making as much as (or less than) your parents did when they thought bell bottoms were rad. An entire subclass of humans has been created to make clothes and Blackberries for pennies a day. Congress scolds big box retailers for their labor injustices instead of instituting laws that would change things.
Our economic model ignores resource depletion, waste production (read: real cost) and barriers of entry (information, competition, etc.). States are running wicked deficits, slicing programs and funding (education, police, etc.). Wall Street is handed $700 billion* without explanation.
I don’t mean to spark guilt or confusion; both are worthless. But, was the economy that great to begin with? We were rich but that was generally based on our ability to shift responsibility and accountability out of sight (read: overseas). Have we run out of scapegoats?
Thursday’s “Earl,” while slightly humorous, turned out to be a half-hour ad for Jane Seymour’s Open Heart necklaces. We’re fast approaching the most consumerist of mutated holidays and all media is saturated with desperate pleas to buy things we can’t afford.
Will marketing and the economy adapt? Will we still rely on the poor to buy beyond their means so our 401Ks don’t tank? How would a marketing pitch go for something that creates genuine prosperity? What’s the guerrilla campaign for renewable electricity (not based on valuable crop misuse)?
* Minus the $17 billion just given to the auto industry because Chapter 11 would have provided just as many layoffs but would have dropped share costs for stockholders.
happy cyber monday »
Monday, December 1st, 2008
Since the retailers are ever pressuring to lengthen the holiday season, today, the Monday after TG, has a name. Just like the Friday after does. (Retailers are strapped for cash and need you to spend to keep their profit margins healthy.) So that’s something.
Speaking of, I had the misfortune to drive past a Wal-Mart distribution center Saturday en route to Girlfriend’s Sister’s (GS). It’s horrifically huge. There were about a hundred semi trailers. Part of my soul died (running on fumes, as they say).
It was in western IL, as was GS’ place. There are a few towns out there that are impressively undernourished. At points I was mildly frightened, thinking I may be a road-tripping barely-legal two miles from engine failure. The way back home was worse (and much, much longer thanks to icy conditions).
Between there and here there is nothing, basically. In winter, it’s like driving through the abstract concept of a nap. The towns are beige (conceptually, not hexidecimally) and the landscape is yawn.
Still, totally worth it. GS just made Girlfriend an aunt and her progeny is adorable times cute to the aww power. That and I was able to eat a half-pound mediocre with a side of bland somewhere in Waterloo, IA.
friday free for all »
Friday, November 28th, 2008
… Yesterday, after a fairly substantial lunch, I had a substantial dinner. I am now very much wallowing in my own glut.
… This morning, somewhere in New York, a thirty-four year old man was trampled to death outside a Wal-Mart (some photos). Fucking bullshit. Everyone says I need to be more positive. Fuck that.
If a mob of assholes can kill someone and continue to walk past, blindly trying to find discounts on severely discounted items, I can think the world’s going to shit. I think I’m more than justified. Prove me wrong.
… There were terrorist attacks on India. Major networks couldn’t get their inflated heads out of their ample asses. Instead (to give the impression they knew what they were doing) they started using an unknown man’s photos that they’d seen on blogs.
Vinu Ranganathan’s photos are intense. This is a positive moment for “citizen journalism” after a series of hilarious missteps. (Steve Jobs had a heart attack? Where’s my iPhone? Must. Tell. Everyone.) He has become overnight famous, in the right place at the wrong time.
If our media insists on reporting uninteresting nothing, emphasizing monuments and waiting for intriguing, trite human interest stories to react, we’ll need more like Vinu. We need perspective and context but the media ignores that too, so knee-jerk, quick response images and tweets will have to do.