Saturday, January 16, 2010

My issue with Walmart

Yes I shop there. Not often, but we're budget-conscious newly-weds and it's five minutes away, so sometimes necessity calls. I've found that having a list gives me a greater chance of holding on to more of my sanity, but most of the time I'm in a rush to leave within a few minutes of entering. Also, for the last time Guy In The Parking Lot, we do not want any tamales.

But my real issue with them comes from a commercial. I think their "family moments cost less at Walmart" campaign is a solid one, but one commercial in particular irked me.

They show a family playing Monopoly. Full of potential (although showing MY family playing Monopoly would likely do more harm than good for the wholesome family togetherness vibe). The "mom" narrator says something about the daughter being "competitive", but "then she did something nice", followed by "I pretended not to notice".

The "nice" thing the sister did? Give the little brother a hotel. Which he proceeded to put on Mediterranean, next to his one house on Baltic.

There are SO MANY problems here.

First off, if the sister character here was truly competitive, she would do no such thing. I am unclear as to whether or not it would be considered a legal move to purchase or hotel for someone else, but why would you want to? Then, the little brother puts it on Mediterranean with one house on Baltic already. You can't put one house on one and a hotel on the other- there can only be a one house difference on your monopoly, duh. Plus, if you could get away with breaking that rule, why would you put the hotel on Mediterranean? To make it a whopping $250? At least Baltic would be $450. And then probably my favorite part- the mom "pretends not to notice"?? How could you possibly pretend not to notice? And where is the dad in all this? Sigh....

It's a known policy in the Jones house that you play hard and honestly, no matter the age or status of your fellow competitors. Oh it's your first time playing? Too bad. Only three years old? Tough luck. That's how you learn. And when you do win, you know you've earned it. That's how WE do family moments.

5 comments:

Dara and Ryan said...

Hey Courtney, How are you? It's Dara. I just want to let you know how proud I am of you. I love your blog and how you write about great things!

AJ said...

Ah but I found the loophole in the Jones family competitiveness. Non-blood family members are not held up to the same strict regimen! I have gained extra points and much advantage simply because Dad is nicer to me than to the others.

AJones said...

er, umm, they're Hotels, not Motels - but spot on otherwise. We saw the same commercial and made exactly the same observation(s).

AJ - just lulling you into a false sense of security - PJ and LB take note . . .

Courtney said...

My bad. I was so flustered with confusion and irritation that I switched them. I went back and made the proper corrections.

Trevor Holms Petersen said...

HAHAHA I love the Jones Family!