February being a time for saying nice and loving things about
companies as well as people, we also asked our shoppers if we should
praise Wal-Mart for banning the word "Free" from their ads and
from packages in their stores. More than 75 percent of our respondents
had an opinion about this.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Among the respondents with opinions, 43 percent checked choice 1:
APPLAUD WAL-MART BECAUSE FREE CLAIMS USUALLY CARRY HIDDEN COSTS
SOMEWHERE.
Among the respondents with opinions, 57 percent checked choice 2:
CRITICIZE WAL-MART FOR RESTRICTING POPULAR ADVERTISING SPEECH.
* "Wal-Mart has no business in doing this--it's just part
of the brand's marketing."
* "Wal-Mart tries to outsmart competitors and undersell as
much as they can--this is just one more example."
* "Criticize them also for trying apparently to control
suppliers and market trends."
* "Have they now gotten so big that they make all the rules?
Buying stuff that says 25% more Free is usually a good deal even though
it isn't really free."
COPYRIGHT 2005 Consumer Network,
Inc Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Copyright 2005, Gale Group. All rights
reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.
NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.