Serving, pandering, or just making a buck

of course if it sales they will carry it.
But i dont even understand why the need to do a story on selling faith based toys..

Yep, it's all about the money.

I wonder where the toys are being made

That's the only thing that gets me about Walmart...why aren't they making religious toys of Buddha or Tao?

Well, that one's easy....they sell more, they make more....if they stock toys catering to Christians....simply because they're a huge majority. It's just a business decision. There's limited shelf space. You stock what you sell the most of. Hasn't there ever been a product you liked, but apparently not many other people also liked, and so eventually you couldn't find it stocked anywhere anymore? Simple Business 101 -- you sell what sells. Inventory collecting dust doesn't contribute to the bottom line. Fairness and inclusiveness don't compute in merchandising.

WalMart's customer base is mainly conservative working-class folks. They sell Bibles and Christian music CDs so why not these toys? Of course its a business decision - if there was a large enough market for the Talmud, Baghvad Vita or the Koran, I'm sure that they'd sell those, too.

I don't understand. Should they try to sell merchandise that DOESN't sell?

I imagine that Budda and Tao merchandise wouldn't sell well?

They can sell whatever they like for the most part, are we going to try to force them to carry things that won't sell now?

Just like my local supermarket - THEY quit stocking prosciutto NOW, I have to drive the SAME distance, in the OTHER direction and buy it at Trader Joe's (at the same price BTW)

Darn you Skippy, that sounds SO good, now I'm hungry. Thanks alot.

I love Trader Joe's

Personally I don't care one way or the other if Wal-Mart sells this toy. Tho it would sale good in my community. I mean they already sale bibles and other religious stuff in the store so why not this.

All good points.

If I had a store, I sure as heck wouldn't be paying for stock that would just sit on a shelf week after week so why would we honestly expect Walmart to do it?

I honestly don't get all the to-do about Walmart. It's just another competing store and we have lots of them in all sectors, lumber, shoes, you name it. What's the big deal?

Of course Wal Mart is out to make a buck. That's capitalism, right?

But every time I see these, I think of the end scenes of Moral Orel (Cartoon Network's Adult Swim) where he's making stop motion movies with his Bible Action Figures.

The real question is, though, do parents really think that the child's play time will actually be more righteous just because of the toys they give them? Kids have active imaginations, and I just don't think that they will be playing like Rod and Todd Flanders (The Simpsons - yeah, I do watch too much TV!) just because you switch them from Optimus Prime to Jesus.

I don't get the hopla about Wal-Mart either. But some would say I am biased on that.

Walmart -- I can take it or leave it. Most of their prices are only pennies lower. The main problem is that nobody competes with them any more. So if you can't find what you want at Walmart, it's difficult to impossible to find it anywhere else at any price. And if what you want is something a little off-beat, not the generic one-size-fits-all All-American (but made in China), then you're S.O.L.

You make me laugh. I like it too.

I shopped recently at a different store that has this wonderful reputation of having designer clothes at discounted prices and have heard everyone rave about this place. I bought a skirt - love the skirt. Washed it once and the seam has all come apart in one of the panels. It wasn't made in China either.

The older I get the more I honestly believe you get exactly what you pay for. If I'm looking for something that's going to last a number of years, still work/look good, then I'll spend the extra money and go to a store that specializes in that product. If I want something that I won't be upset about throwing away in a year or so, then I'll shop discount stores.

I love Walmart for their yarns, patterns, hygiene supplies and cheap linens. Linens don't last me that long because I bleach the heck out of them.

I am not a big Wal-Mart fan. I refuse to shop there, and I participated in a movement to keep them out of my city (we lost, alas). I don't like how they pretty much just sweep over their competition because they can afford to offer lower prices and their competitors can't. I don't like how they set up these huge megaplex shopping marts where first you get a Wal-Mart, then you get a few other stores, then some restaurants, and suddenly there's a mall where your kids used to play Robin Hood in the bushes. I also don't like the way they censor artists, although I suppose it's within their rights to edit music to remove profanities and to refuse to sell artists whose music offends them; I just don't personally appreciate it or agree with it.

As for the religious action figures, I suppose they can make whatever they want that will sell, since they're in it to make a buck. I can't actually picture these things selling all that well, but I don't know all that many religious people, so it's a bit beyond my realm of experience and understanding. I think there would be less hoopla if they also decided to sell toys pandering to other religions, but if they don't view those as being as marketable as Christian toys, it would be unrealistic to expect them to invest time and money into something they don't anticipate profitting from. It seems a little tacky to me, but to each their own, I guess ...

That's the beauty of having choices. If we all liked the same things, how boring would that be! Some folks felt that Payless drove out some of our shoes stores but having said that, once Payless came to our town I was then able to buy ladies shoes to fit out daughter instead of having to buy her men's shoes like I had to do when she was in high school. So there's good and bad.

Oh sorry, I had to close out before someone walked in my office as I posted.

Umm...I was trying to pun how most of their stuff comes from China. So bad joke went wrong.

From what I understand, WalMart doesn't sell the products so much as they sell the shelf space where the products sit. That's how they can sell the "product" at such a low price. *shrug*

I don't care either way...if the toys sell and someone makes a buck, fine and dandy. If someone wants to sell other religious toys and those make a buck, no problem.

I guess I don't see how this is "newsworthy."

kids will play whatever they want, regardless of the toys they have to hand.
my cousin didn't want her boys to have toy guns, so she didn't buy them any. they made 'guns' out of everything - even peanut butter sandwiches!

personally, i think a VeggieTales line would probably do better. but maybe there already is one?

My cousins were the same way -- they weren't allowed to own toy guns, so they just made their own. At no point did my aunts or uncles ever explain to the kids why they considered guns bad or off-limits, or try to impart some kind of lesson to them about proper gun safety ... No, they just tried to ban guns entirely, which of course never works.

And yeah, kids will play with just about anything, and it may or may not have anything to do with the original intent of the toys. I played with rocks and sticks (not for a lack of toys, mind you, but just because they were there); you know the magnetic letters and numbers kids get that we put on fridges? I pretended they were people. Really. (And certain numbers/letters were a specific gender. I can't remember how I figured that one out ...) Just because kids have religious toys doesn't mean those toys will be used to re-enact bible stories. Think of all the naughtiness those toys can get up to ...

Wal-Mart has a political agenda. They censor all of their movies and cd's to remove material they find offensive to their own morals. One shining example is the removal of the interracial kissing scenes from "Save the Last Dance"-- it's a full 30 minutes shorter than versions sold at places that don't censor their goods. They do not state this on the label either. That is why I don't go to secondhand record/dvd shops anymore. Often, the stuff is from Wal-Mart and heavily censored with no marking, and the employees of Walmart bring it is by the carload... not that I'm speculating as to how they got it or anything.

So why would it surprise anyone that they are continuing their agenda in the toy aisle? Yes, it is mostly capitalism, but Wal-Mart is not meant for all Americans. Their prices on certain things are lower, but a lot of them are higher too.

They cater to the people who don't understand or don't care about the damage they're doing.

I guess that's me.

I work long and hard for my money so I'll shop where I get the best buy for my money - if that means buying from Walmart, I'm there!

I honestly don't think they are any better or any worse than a lot of other companies out there that undercut each other for clientele or buy goods made in China or any number of other dire things they are accused of.

I agree with Yosemite.

Me three.

It is their business and they can run it any way they want to as long as it is legal.

I think most of the hoop-la against Walmart has to do with it not being Union.
Sorry, but every chain in America does not have to be Union.

I love how they are helping out the poor people with those $4.00 drug prescriptions, you don't see any other stores doing that and you don't see that mentioned by the Walmart haters either.

Wal-Mart is not this big bad cares for no one company people make them out to be. Let me tell you a story here:

Last year was a pretty bad year for my kids and my family. My middle son had throat surgery and was diagnosed as being growth hormone defiect requiring 3 shots a week for gosh knows how long. My youngest had tonsils/anoids/turbantes reduced. All within one year. In the case of my middle son's surgery this required traveling 400-600 miles away(1 way) every few weeks for follow ups. Well December rolled around. Money was tight recovering for all this stuff. Well our kids were selected to go on a Christmas shopping spree at Wal-Mart with other kids. One hundred some odd dollars was given to each kid for toys just toys. Wal-Mart matched that a donated the same amount per kid to buy school stuff.

See Wal-MArt is not bad for everyone all the time.

No0w Target which people always claim is so much better than Wal-Mart with locations and all that. Yeah I won't shop there. Here's why:

Years ago (about 4 yrs ago) we lived in a nice trailer park by a naval base. Some people owned their trailers and lived there for many many years. Well Target wanted that land bad and bought it to be by the base. We all were given less than 6 mths to move. People that owned their homes for years and years had to leave them there. They were to old to be moved anywhere. Target surely did not buy their homes for them. They started over from scratch. All because Target wanted that land.

I won't step foot in a Target.

I didn't say that they never did anything right-- they're one of the first major companies to enact a green living project for their stores and sure they do plenty of well-publicized charity things. The people who benefit from these thinsg become lifelong customers and pay it back several times over. Businesses do not do things out of the goodness of their heart.

Ping, what you describe happening to your trailer park happens at the hands of Walmart as well, and any number of other companies.

Cindy-- you insist on arguing about unions when nobody is talking about unions. That isn't the main thing I think is wrong with Wal-Mart, and I don't even know if I would want them to. And you bring up the 4$ prescriptions every time you see the word Wal-Mart, so I don't think anyone else thinks it is necessary to say anything about it.

They do all these things to gain customers. Their base is lower-income rural people, and they do things to attract their base and make them refuse to go anywhere else, partly because everywhere else is probably out of business anyway.

Sure, you may disagree that they're ruining America bit by bit, and keep shopping there, but stop to examine how you feel about the store. A lot of people defend Wal-Mart like it is a family member. It's just a store, and I don't feel any attachment to stores I shop at. If you examine that feeling just a second, it becomes obvious how successful they've been at creating a ridiculously loyal customer base. To the point that to those people, they can do no wrong, and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks because they don't shop there anyway.

I do believe Wal-Mart has and is doing illegal things. You know, like hiring illegal immigrants. Or any number of other things. Monopolies are illegal.