Thank you Wal-Mart for finally recognizing the fact that 75% of your customer base consists of uneducated, bigoted, tasteless, trailer-bound idiots who do not support equal rights for all citizens. Your agreement to cease your financial support for �extremely inappropriate and controversial� �causes� like the gay and lesbian population comes at a very opportune time, as the Holiday shopping season approaches. By giving into idle threats from the American Family Association, you have just empowered an organization that disguises their unabashed discrimination and hatred towards human beings through �religious� ideology and political scare tactics. Furthermore, you have allowed these people to manipulate and threaten you to gain much needed media traction and further their hate filled cause. The only real legitimacy this organization garnishes is from the mainstream press who help breathe life into their desperate need for public face time. They played you like the plastic fiddles made in Taiwan you buy in bulk.I would call for a counter-boycott of your stores from the gay population, but our personal style and taste level keeps us all far from your doors. We stopped buying clapboard furniture and poorly designed home accoutrements when our average household income ratio more than doubled over our straight, Middle American counterparts. If we must go discount, it will certainly be at Target; at least they merit product design, store cleanliness and a higher-class shopping experience all around.
I�m not sure how ignoring one of the most powerful consumer demos in existence plays into your business model. I guess you sell enough cheap crap to discount-worthy shoppers to keep the Walton family high on the Billionaires list, so it�s not really of concern. What I do know is that as long as you continue to yield to organizations that actively pursue the demotion of human beings due to their genetic disposition, you will remain as classless and uneducated as the majority of your customer base.
3 comments:
Funny, last week I was at a local bar and all these guys with tuxes walk in. They just got done with their convention for the Gay and Lesibian Chamber of Convention. They were talking a little about Walmart. They made some of the same arguments. Then the publisher of a local newspaper got into talking about the Catholic Church and that is when I started to chim in, but nothing was resolved.
I'm confused by your assertion that the queer population is "one of the most powerful consumer demo[graphic]s". Last time I saw number, homosexuals comprised 5-7 percent of the American population.
It seems as though you're aggravated that Walmart would "betray" the gay population and yet you claim that no gay person would shop there anyway. I have to ask myself, what gives?
If a certain demographic doesn't shop at a certain store, it makes good economic sense for that certain store not to support said demographic's political agendas.
Is this not true?
I agree with your logic 100%. BUT.. My logic originated with this: The Gay and lesbian population buying power was projected to peak at $641 Billion dollars in 2006. That was up from $485 Billion in 2003. Those numbers are disporportionate to the size of the population (by let say 10 fold). Gays have been long recognized in the retail/advetising/marketing community as a very powerfull buying demo. Espicially by higher priced/luxury retailers (Not Wal-Mart brands). The DINK (Dual Income No Kids) demographic has taken on a very prominent role in marketing/advetising strategy across all retail segments and gay households are making up a sizable percentage of that demo.
Sure Wal-Mart caved to the ignorant middle americans.. because thats who shops at their stores. I just wanted to let them know that theres really no love lost there, on either side.
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