How evil!

But, seriously, it's called marketing. Next week: Blockbuster puts candy, popcorn and pop in video stores! Seventh Circle of Hell or Merely Evil?

What about Family Fun Night with healthy snacks? Probably too hard of a concept to think about.

@squinko: Pfft. How are carrots "fun"?

@squinko: Probably a concept that doesn't sell too well on impulse?

@Stephmo: As a former employee of Blockbuster, I can confirm that it is in fact the Seventh Circle of Hell.

- "Yay, obesity is fun, mah'! I bet I can drink more soda than the rest of the family before they have to cut off my foot!"
- "You're on, chubby!"

Walmart--bringing families together by increasing their gravitational force. All at low prices.

@squinko: Nothing says fun like rice cakes!...barf

@squinko: Not as much of a profit margin.

@squinko: I don't think soda and other snacks are bad as a treat every now and then (perhaps on something like family fun night). If parents limited the amount of treats kids got daily, having them every now and then wouldn't be a huge deal.

YOU decide what your kids do and don't eat. Not Walmart. If you want your kids to eat healthy snacks, don't buy the chips. They aren't forcing you to buy the treats along with the movie.

Personal responsibility.

@G.O.B.: Come on!: Nothing goes better that a 1 lb bag of doritos over a nice game of hungry hungry hippos

@squinko: Hey, kids, not only are you spending quality time with Mom & Dad tonight, but we got you Tofu Crunchers, tomato juice and an educational video on the History of Twine! Who wants to be the first one to write an essay on how much fun family night is?

Wow, once in a while, it's okay to have a treat.

@squinko: Wal*Mart doesn't sell healthy snacks.

They can call it what they want, I will continue to call it the "Family Growth Center."

That explains the DVD's that were in the picture yesterday off to the right of the Pepsi et al.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Carrots are fun with really tasty fattening dip... ;-)

Let's see - the 2 liter Pepsi is $1, those Frito Lays bags run from $4 to $5. The cheapest Monopoly game they carry is close to $18. Those Jenga games run $18 to $20.

Their $20 Family Fun Night? Games -or- snacks, kids. You can't have it all.

@jbrecken: You've never been to a Wal-Mart, have you?

@squinko:

If they thought it would be profitable, they would do it.

@brandihendrix: You only decide what your kids eat at home, unfortunately. Once they get to school, it's out of your hands--and into the vending machines.

Evil.

@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): LOTR secret diaries:

DAY ONE

Was out pilfering vegetables when bumped into Sam and Frodo. Had a nice little roll around with Frodo in corn before was forcibly removed by Sam. Must have word with Frodo about letting servants get overly familiar and grabby.

Fell down hill. Merry v. disappointed that he broke his carrot. After he found one that was just the right shape, too.

@Laines: Agreed. You can't get many games for under $20 these days.

@brandihendrix: I raised my child on ultra-healthy food. Thought I was doing the best for him. Then he started kindergarten and we got him a lunchroom debit card to use on the only day he requested the school lunch - whole grain pizza day. Fine with us!

The money started disappearing really fast. We worried about it - were bullies making him buy their lunches? Was some lunch lady keeping the cash and not crediting the account properly?

Turns out when he got to school, he was tossing the healthy lunch I packed and buying a bag of Doritos in the lunch line. EVERY DAY. For several weeks he did this.

It was pretty funny. Now we have a compromise. He gets to help choose the lunch I pack, and he can have Doritos every Friday in lunch line, along with his whole grain pizza. I learned something from it, too. I have to give him a little freedom to have treats once in a while (real treats, besides organic frozen yogurt, etc. crap we used to love like Devil Dogs and Doritos.)

So now he does get a little "junk food treat" every week, and I've realized it's not the end of the world.

@squinko: How about "healthy" snacks like like Fruit Roll-Ups, mayonnaise, and Cocoa Puffs?

It seems the outrage was directed not at the presence of junk food itself, but by its new location in a toy aisle where parents are likely accustomed to shopping for toys with their children. Presenting this display as "Family Fun Night" would make more sense had they located it in the DVD aisle where people are already shopping for movies and the presence of children is not necessarily implied.

This is, of course, assuming Walmart keeps relatively static locations for their toy and A/V sections. If they're changing everything all the time, then I suppose all bets are off.

@Stephmo:
Were you joking or serious?
Blockbuster has always sold candy, pop & popcorn.

@Laines:

maybe Walmart has a sale on "Monopoly: Melamine Edition" ^.^

Come on people, get over it. This isn't evil or deceptive. You probably get your panties in a twist because they have gum and candy by the checkout lines. Grow up.

@Stephmo: Is that place still open?

@formatc: You've obviously never seen organic snacks or pretzels made from rice flour.

"By a board game, kid dvd and some snacks..."

Must be a store manager.

I needed to go to Wal Mart last night and remembered reading about this. I took my 10 year old daughter down that aisle twice without saying a word. The first time she didn't ask for anything. The second time, she wanted a Jenga game. I politely declined her request, but the new Cheesy Enchilada/Sour Cream Collisions Doritos I bought myself rocked!!

@Julia789: I was going to go the stripper-on-webcam-with-vegetables route, but, I guess, in the end we're both talking about a dip.

Family Fun Night, eh?

Board Game: Pandemic
Movie: 28 Days
Snack: Funions (no relation, I just like Funions)

If the little ankle-biters aren't afraid of the world at the end of the night, then, as a family, you're doing them a disservice.

@CaptainCynic:

I think I saw you on that people of walmart page.

This is probably a functional result of their means of tracking sales data. Walmart has pretty much the most sophisticated method of tracking consumer spending and purchasing habits, but its all based on analyzing the contents of individual purchases, or 'carts', and drawing relationships based upon the combination of products purchased together, and external factors, such as time of day, day of week, proximity to holidays, etc.

They probably noticed that many purchasers came in and grabbed soda, chips, and a boardgame, then possibly some unrelated essential, like tube socks or toothpaste. Then, they smartly paired the two since it'll save customers time, lower the barriers to consumer's already-predictable behaviors, and likely increase their dollar/sale.

Given their method of analysis, a product re-organization of this nature makes perfect sense.

Sounds like this "strategy" is similar to the ad campaign I have seen running on tv by Walmart for the alternative to the expensive fast food breakfast. They show Jimmy Dean sausage, SunnyD drink and some other product that I don't recall. It might be less expensive than fast food, but it is in no way healthier. SunnyD is mostly sugar, Jimmy Dean is mostly fat.

If you really want to see something interesting about Walmart, visit here: [peopleofwalmart.com]

@Stephmo:
@href="#c15300150">oneliketadow:

Yes still open, and my local Seventh Circle of Hell also sells books. Candy, popcorn, soda and a good book. Cant beat the grocery store and library, er i mean blockbuster.

@floraposte: Agreed - once they get into school, you can't police their food anymore. See my post @Julia789: (Does the link work? Mwa. It's in this same thread anyhow) for my son's "Doritos adventure" when he started kindergarten. He went nuts on Doritos with his lunch debit card.

@Stephmo: As long as they keep the sex toy display away from the porno DVDs I'm OK with it.

They should go all the way and group guns, beer, and Lynyrd Sknyryd CDs together.

I like how I pretty much said that in my comment 4 HOURS EARLIER yet this person gets credit.

[consumerist.com]

Nice.

Too many WalMart haters around here. Whatever happened to live and let live, pursuit of happiness and all that?

@Laines: Actually, they have "Monopoly Town," which is $15. I'm sure they have other low-cost games as well.

Also, what bag of Frito Lays costs $4 or $5?

@squinko: The occasional junk food is okay. If kids don't experience it at all, they don't know how to deal with it on their own. Better to teach them moderation.
Besides, when did it become Walmart's responsibility to promote healthy snacks for "family night?" When are parents going to learn that they could use all the energy they spend complaining about corporations and media corrupting their kids to actually parent their kids...maybe because that's harder?

Are they putting this fun center on the aisle across from the pharmacy? Less walking/exercise to pick up your statins, weight loss and diabetic supplies for the family.

@squinko: 50# bag of popcorn and an air popper. We quit buying or renting DVDs when we got on-demand. Where I live shopping is an unpleasant experience so anything to avoid it.

@MooseOfReason: Doritos list price on the bag is $3.99. This is why I only buy them on rare occasions when Hyvee runs a $1.50 a bag sale. It also helps to cut down on eating crap you shouldn't.

@Aaron Poehler: This could be a fun game. Group three things for Walmart to sell together.

Boones Farm (the blue stuff in the plastic bottle), Condoms and a rubber mallet.