In the post-holiday malaise, I was confronted with a simple truth — sometimes Wal-Mart is the only option. I have all of the standard gripes about Wallyworld (or Deathmart as my friend Mike has crudely dubbed them after the unfortunate death of an employee on Black Friday) so I won’t bother to elaborate on them here.
My wife’s family lives in rural Iowa, and for many essential items Wal-Mart is the only option. And so it passed that my wife, sister-in-law and I set out for food staples, grab bag gifts for an upcoming Yankee Swap, and miscellenous gift items. For part of the visit I was left to my own devices and wandered the aisles. Because I am insane and think of such things, I took in the modern facelift of the new Wal-Mart logo along with other in-store promotionals proclaiming the giant retailer’s slogan — Save money. Live better.
Say what you will about it — it’s basic, it’s dirivitive on Target’s “Expect More. Pay Less.” — but I think this slogan ultimately meets it’s needs and is relevant now more than ever. I found myself reading it aisle after aisle, end-cap after end-cap and thinking — “That IS what I want.” And right now that’s what we all want.
Don’t get me wrong. I think the company and the way it operates are often times reprehensible and I don’t think that a slogan that happens to be more topical now can somehow reverse or offset that. What I do think is that right now, Wal-Mart is doing an OK job of talking to a lot of people.
(Just to be sure to get one quick dig in — the photo I took above slays me. Now you can add a small, quaint Wal-Mart to your picturesque holiday village. The irony of course is that once you put the Wal-Mart out you’d have to remvoe the small town drug store and toy shop from your quaint main street …)
