the smedley log - suburban scrawl

Friends with Low Wages

I had been trying not to bash Wal-Mart too heavily in recent months. This is not because I’ve softened in my dislike for the company, but rather I like to focus on happier things (as you can probably tell).

But when something is both anti-Wal-Mart and just a little bit funny at the same time, I’m still a bit of a sucker. Hence this faux Garth Brooks music video, that I’ve actually known about for a week or so.

What compounds the relevance of this video for me is Wal-Mart’s response to it:

“… It’s a shame that this group would use this type of publicity stunt to take away from what we do to help working families save money every day,” said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Karen Burk. … (source)

Of course Karen forgot to mention all of the working families that they help get on welfare programs, but it’s an understandable oversight on her part, considering who signs the paycheck. Which leads me to wondering, what did they have to offer Garth Brooks that he’d surrender the right to market his music at any outlet besides Wal-Mart? Or is his career already that far in the toilet?

Past that, exactly how much sympathy am I supposed to feel for Brooks or for a company that actually had the gall to suggest in writing that employees would lose certain benefits if they joined a union?

maybe it’s lucky this guy wasn’t hearing that appeal. (It must be hard to rule against fifty thousand dollars in WalMart stock.)

thanks for this, howard—i always love a good anti-walmart message
and this one is hilarious, however depressing…

I’ve been sitting on it for about a week; meant to post it earlier, but the busy life was calling and I forgot.