Magazines
are not the only thing Wal-Mart is losing
By Jack Schneider
On-line Forty-Niner
Wal-Mart
may not be the No. 1 market to shop for
some Cal State Long Beach students, but
all across the country, it has lost some
valuable customers, young adult males. Then
again, there are some people that have never
wanted to set foot in a Wal-Mart.Some people
who are anti-capitalistic and don’t want
to deal with a gigantic supermarket refuse
to make a visit inside the super center.
For those that do go into the center, merchandise
is dropping like flies from the shelves.
In 1993, three pop-culture items were banned
out of the entire Wal-Mart chain. Those
items included Howard Stern’s controversial
book “Private Parts,” Nirvana’s “In Utero”
and any CD that had a “Parental Advisory”
sticker attached on the front cover. Afterwards
came a doll that represented a pregnant
Barbie, and Sheryl Crow for condoning hand-gun
purchase at none other than Wal-Mart. Just
now added to the blacklist, racy male magazines.
Some of the issues too hot for Wal-Mart
include Maxim, Stuff and FHM Magazine. Wal-Mart
officials claim that magazines like Maxim
(which claims that it is “the best thing
to happen to men since women”) bother, and
distract customers.
Marjorie Heins, director of the Free Expression
Policy Project said their decisions in yanking
popular male magazines was decided by an
ideological rather than financial logistics.
Wal-Mart doesn’t need to worry about financial
ballyhoo, since it has plans to expand all
over the world (with a few items missing
from their selection).
Although Wal-Marts may not be the hugest
reliable shopping center in Long Beach (there’s
only two), people who live in rural parts
of the country can only rely on a Wal-Mart
as their source of obtainable goods.
Maxim magazine carries a circulation of
2.5 million around 900,000 newsstands. Stuff
magazine has a distribution of 1.2 million,
with about 450,000 sold on stands.
This probably won’t be the last time merchandise
that seems tame and quasi-offensive and
gets yanked off of shelves of the famous
retail chain. Wal-Mart does have a right
to pull off stuff that associates and some
customers may find offensive. What will
be the next item taken out of the store?
The one thing Wal-Mart is losing besides
racy magazines is a reputation. How many
times have you heard a person cringing over
the fact that the only thing Wal-Mart has
are guns and edited CDs? Did Wal-Mart ever
think that the only places to get magazines
like Stuff and Maxim were only at their
stores? Apparently, everything you need
isn’t at Wal-Mart, and seems like they are
pushing away their customers, instead of
offering a one-stop place to shop.
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