Wal-Mart's Anti-Family Family Commercial
While watching television this week, I was surprised by the conflicting views in a Wal-Mart commercial. Wal-Mart shows the twisted way in which they view "family togetherness."
In the commercial, the mother of a family of six discusses her family and a deal she found at Wal-Mart:
You know what I love about Wal-Mart?
They know how to bring a family together.
See, this year, we're getting a [insert brand name here] HDTV.
The woman continues about the affordability of HDTVs at Wal-Mart. As annoying as it was to hear Wal-Mart claim that buying an HDTV would bring a family together, my jaw dropped when I heard the mom's conclusion to the commercial:
You know, it's hard to stop everybody from running every which way at Christmas . . . but it helps when you can put a big HDTV in their way.
So not only is an HDTV a great way to bring your family together, but it accomplishes it by trapping them on the couch. Nice. Wal-Mart's current campaign (included at the end of this commercial) is "Save money. Live better." Save money? Probably. Live better? Not like that.
Keep in mind, I'm not at all anti-Wal-Mart and I'm not part of the "Kill Your Television" crowd, but I can assure you that sitting in front of the TV is the best way to be completely disconnected with your family while still being in the same room. When you watch television with your family, you're not talking with them about their day or about their dreams or problems. I guess that Wal-Mart views "family togetherness" as nothing more than a physical state, not a relational state.
Wal-Mart is having a bad quarter. Last month, they proved that Wal-Mart dislikes diligent shoppers.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 06:18 by Novac and is filed under All, Culture, Media, Stores, Television, Wal-Mart.
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November 15th, 2007 at 19:05
I get your point, but your view is a little skewed. Wal-mart isn't telling you that you should bring a big TV into your family, people are telling Wal-mart that. They just respond to customers wants and needs. Watching TV together is what most families do together… and probably while eating. It may be wrong and the opposite of togetherness, but that's what people do. If it was a popular activity to learn words with the family every day, you bet Wal-mart would have a commercial saying "bring your family together by buying our dictionaries." Alas, this is not the case. Wal-mart should not be blamed for the ailments of society. They're a business out to make money. They're not going to to the right thing, ever–no business will. They only do what's profitable, as they should, for otherwise they will go out of business causing people to lose jobs and families to go hungry.
November 16th, 2007 at 12:03
What really bothered me about this commercial was the brother with his arm around his sister… kinda creepy
November 16th, 2007 at 17:58
This is like Nick at Nite or TVland stating That everyone needs to eat together "at the family table" and even have a webpage http://www.tvland.com/familytable/ft_home.jhtml
Why is it necessary to tell families that they should be eating together? Oh wait! Wal-Mart just told them to get the TV, so they are a bit distracted now!