11 Things Banned By Walmart
From a practical standpoint — our Walmart overlords decided what we can and can't have. MentalFloss has put together a list of 11 things they did not approve of — or were forced to remove because others did not approve.
Our favorite? The credit card/Santa panties for juniors.
From MentalFloss:
That's right: panties that say, "Who needs credit cards…" on the front and "When you have Santa" on the rear. The undergarments started showing up in Wal-Mart's juniors departments in December 2007 and quickly started an Internet firestorm over the perceived message of using Kris Kringle as a sugar daddy. While the same joke would be fairly harmless on, say, a t-shirt, many women felt that its placement on underwear added a sinister sexual undertone aimed at adolescent girls.
We took a different position at the time, suggesting that the choice of panties for the slogan was clouding the message of fiscal responsibility. Then again, at the time we didn't know about the Santa part on the butt. Oh well.
One notable banning left off the MentalFloss list was the notorious Walmart Nazi T-shirt, which is too bad, because a lot of work went into that one.
11 Things Wal-Mart Has Banned [MentalFloss]
(Photo:Feministing)
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The only way someone's going to read them is if pants have already hit the floor. Just saying.
The most shocking thing about the Megan Fox entry is not that she shoplifted a $7 tube of lip gloss, but that lip gloss costs $7.
That better be some damn fine lip gloss.
Effective yesterday, I have banned Wal-mart. I walked out at the cashier, leaving $90 worth of merchandise behind, which I will purchase at Target. I am tired of being treated like a criminal everywhere I shop: ID please, receipt please, bag check please. I'll shop elsewhere before I'll give Walmart another dime and be complacent to their controlling practices. /end rant.
This reminds me of the "Pet my wookiee, Solo" underwear I came up with.
I love this one:
3. Confederate-Themed Barbecue Sauce
...90 Southern Wal-Marts were marketing a mustard-based sauce created by Maurice Bessinger, an outspoken advocate of flying the Rebel flag over the State House and owner of eight Piggie Park restaurants.
During the flag debate, Bessinger replaced all American flags at his eateries with Confederate flags, a move that Wal-Mart saw as objectionable and needlessly provocative, so the company yanked his sauces from its stores. (Don't feel too bad for Bessinger, though; it took nothing less than a 1976 Supreme Court intervention to force him to serve African Americans in his restaurants.)
1. Bessinger's BBQ sauce rocks. Too bad the guy making it is such a racist neo-Confederate tool.
2. I would imagine any court case involving Piggie Park and the idea of African-Americans eating there would be about as close to moot as it gets. I've been there a few times, and you rarely see anyone darker than the standard pasty, porky pink with red neckline in there.
Of course, being a Yankee and all, it took me awhile to make the connection. I doubt I'll be back for seconds.
@Applekid: There's no such thing as subversive underwear. Real revolutionaries go commando. Or at least guerrilla.
What I get a kick out of is that they require music cd's sold to be censored yet they will sell rated R movies. Seems a little hypocritical to me.
Ahh, Mental Floss. For that squeaky clean sensation...
@diasdiem: Please, please, don't start spouting unless you have a brand new take on Walmart. Sadly, depend on Penn and Teller to give the best look at the whole situation...
But we can wrap this up into two questions: 1) what would "equitable" wages be and 2) would you be willing to pay 5/10/15/50% more of every item to help provide that?
@cmac: The aggressive leakage-prevention measures are part of how Wal-Mart maintains low prices. I really don't mind that as much as I mind the fact that they've pretty-much single-handedly destroyed most American consumer goods industries. That, and the fact that much of Wal-Mart's merchandise has been even further built down to a price point to the point where you don't even have to pick up the display model to tell how flimsy it is.
@redskull: I wonder if it was "yo yo" lip gloss. Hehehehe...some chick from Grad school put lip gloss on one of those retractable keychains people put their keys on (if your a janitor) because "I kept losing my lip gloss when I went to clubs" and used her parents money to actually source, produce, and market the crap. Nouveau riche are hilarious.
@cmac: Jeez...who cares...it's 15 seconds from your busy day of clipping coupons and making generic consumerist posts.
@dohtem: I think the problem here is that those panties are for juniors. What they should have is a picture of Chris Hanson and "Why don't you have a seat over there and let's talk for a minute" written on them.
I remember they band Black Crowes Amorica because of the album cover.
" they've pretty-much single-handedly destroyed most American consumer goods industries."
This is a damnable lie. They have had help from...Oh , 2-300 million American shoppers that want low prices above all else.
Look , all you WalMart haters want a world with heaven but no hell. You say you want affordable staples and other goods for "hard woking people" ,then when a company provides that very thing, you're ready to believe any bad thing that some crank types on the internet about them.
Do they sell cheap stuff? You betcha. Are they China's largest trading partner? You betcha. But if you hate the preceeding two facts , STOP SHOPPING THERE.
America the Hypocritical.
@ckaught78: I believe that's because cds don't have a ratings system like video games and movies do. If you bring up an R dvd they'll card you for your age unless you're an old man. I believe it's 40 for beer and cigarettes, maybe it's 40 for that as well.
From a control perspective, I get it. Kid goes to a store and buys an explicit cd then goes home and blasts it; the parents are going to come back to the walmart and yell at the manager or go over his head to corporate. They probably don't have the time, will, or effort to deal with that crap nor the requisite Fox News coverage about how "walmart is destroying our youth".
@ckaught78: I hate to defend Walmart, but if you buy an R rated movie there a warning goes off at the checkout to remind the clerk to check the buyer's ID. CDs don't have ratings (yet). So I have to give them a pass on that one.
I love #8. Lad Mags...
The Wal-Mart I go to has Maximum, Stuff, etc everywhere. I was in the magazine section with the wife (she was looking for some home/garden magazine) and I look over to see this enormous bubble butt looking me right in the face. Apparently, there are no family values at this store. I quickly hid it from the view of my 2 year old and we ran over to the children's books. Walmart = epic fail.
@redskull:
No, but aren't cds that have explicit lyrics suppose to have the label on them? Why can't Walmart simply sell the cd and have their workers check id cards if someone brings up one of these cds? Furthermore, they can treat them the same was as R-rated movies. Walmart is really just trying to tell us what they want us to listen to and try and push their "family values" on us.
@cmac: I haven't shopped at Wal-Mart in ten years and I have never regretted turning my back on them. The fifteen nickels I could have saved have not been missed.
They have every right to sell what they want to sell and not sell what they don't want to sell. You have every right to not shop there. QED.
@cmac: I have had my credit card stolen and used twice. True it didn't cost me anything, but I still didn't like that my card was used.
I like when I am asked for my ID and never have had any bad consequence from it. Even if you don't agree, if you get upset about something so minor, you probably get upset at way to much in life.
@Snarkysnake: The sad thing is that the prices aren't that remarkably great and vary by locale nationwide.
Everyone complains about walmart until it's 2am and you need something right away and relatively cheap. 24 hours baby...and an adequate auto maintainance inventory. My only regret about walmart is that they don't have hillman drawers for bolts, nuts, and washers...that would be asking a lot but would be a Godsend.
I've seen pregnant dolls like the ones described in item #1 before (with the reversible tummy). They're not bad at all but thinking about Wal-Mart's stereotypical customer base makes me realize they saved themselves a ton of grief by just pulling it. #4 is also surprising, especially because they gave the reason of "family values". Their family values must include women staying in the home and not aspiring to anything more than a babymaker...
@JimBoSlobish: Except the fact that they do sell R-rated movies and M-rated video games completely invalidates the whole "trying to tell us what they want us to listen to" argument.
If they were really trying to push some kind of family values bullshit on us, they wouldn't sell anything at all that might be objectionable.
@diasdiem: But it's not a concrete system. There's no age restriction implied or intended by the parental advisory label (ie it doesn't say you have to be 16 to purchase, etc). It's just a warning to parents that there's naughty language in the music.
@suburbancowboy: You're missing a verb there. If I remember correctly, they just made them airbrush the pubes out.
"Sinister Sexual Undertone" would be a good name for a band...or my new username on Consumerist.
@Smashville_can haz star???: Actually, I think they just showed the bikini bottom on a black background.
[www.sleazeroxx.com]
Well, boo-yah. I just got back from WalMart on my lunch hour. Bought a nifty little ceramic space heater (Sunbeam) for $18 to keep my parakeets'sunroom warm when we don't want to crank up the heat in the whole house, AND two necklaces. Yes, I said necklaces. They are cute, and the price was right. I didn't see any cringe-worthy attire on shoppers, either. (Probably wrong part of the country for that.) I'm sure someone, somewhere is suffering for my consumerist sin....
@JimBoSlobish: So we condemn Wal-Mart for banning them, and then when they don't, they are condemmed anyway.
Make up your minds!
@nstonep: That's what the MPAA and game rating systems are too. So far as I know (except maybe in a few jurisdictions) there are no laws against selling an R-rated movie to a minor. Most stores just don't do it because it's bad publicity. They could do the same for every CD that carries a parental advisory label just as easily as a Rated M game rather than impose the musical equivalent of "Give me the keys, you fairy godmother" on the customers.
Why do I think that the 'when you have santa' line actually improves this fashion disaster?
The stand alone line 'who needs credit cards...' seems much more mercenary and trashy without the inclusion of an wink toward an imaginary friend, as opposed to say a real sugar daddy.
@TuxthePenguin: 1) Wages that don't cause a higher than average percentage of your workers to seek public assistance. ([www.nytimes.com])
2) Yes. We don't think that a social safety net is free, just worth it.
@HurtsSoGood: "...you don't even have to pick up the display model to tell how flimsy it is."
That's the main reason I still do any shopping at Wal-Mart. If I don't care about what I'm buying a just need something cheap, that's where I go. For instance, I needed some spray paint for a costume last year for Halloween. At Wal-Mart I could get it for $1/can; everywhere else it was at least $1 more. It's also been a great place to get diapers for baby showers since so many of my friends seem to be having babies lately.
@nstonep: But shouldn't the prices very by locale? The cost of living in Florida is different from the cost of living in Illinois* so why charge them the same thing for bread?
(*I didn't actually check to see if the cost of living is different.)
@pot_roast:
I'm not against banning, just having their employees look after a section frequented by small children. I really don't want my kids seeing that stuff at such a young age. I know what it's like to see pornographic material at such a young age, and believe me, it only creates problems.
@Smashville_can haz star???: I still shop juniors at some stores, particularly stores that seem to think adults come in C cup or larger.
@nstonep: The MPAA rating system is just as arbitrary. Contrary to popular opinion, it does not carry the force of law.
Wal-Mart could easily decide to treat all CDs with Parental Advisory stickers on them exactly like R-rated movies - no sale to anyone under 17. As there a private business and age is not a protected class, there's nothing to stop them.
The forgot #12: equitable wages and benefits.