SocraticGadfly: #BlackFriday suggestion at #Walmart

October 11, 2012

#BlackFriday suggestion at #Walmart

You know what would be cool, and much more effective, perhaps, than Adbusters' self-righteous snark? And might be more effective in at least the shorter term, and more awareness-raising, than HERE’s attempts to unionize Walmart employees?

That’s if lots of progressive Americans went into Walmarts across the nation on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, and did the no-buy loitering equivalent of a sit-down strike.

Think about it. You and I could just loiter in the aisles of Wally Worlds. It wouldn’t take all day, just a bit of dedication, maybe 15 minutes per person. Just loiter, while occasionally asking questions of staff. Make sure to be kind enough to tell them “no hurry” on answering your questions.

And, of course, there’s the online and telephonic versions of this, too. Call and/or email Walmart HQ up in Bentonville, Ark., on Nov. 23 as well.  (Here’s a webpage with some corporate contact information, including several Twitter accounts. Add in the investor relations and other contacts.) Tell the routine phone-answering people, again, “no hurry.” Better yet, tell them to “take all the time you want.”

But that’s not all.

There’s better monkey-wrenching to do, whether at local stores, or on the phone/online.

Ask questions about products. And not just any old questions.

Ask leading questions. These could be about product quality or safety. Or they could be human rights issues, asking if WallyWorld knows the detailed working conditions of the Chinese factory of origin.

Or ask WallyWorld if it still locks employees inside stores. Or whatever.

And, feel free to pass these ideas around now. That said, I’m not sure if Wally should get any too-specific inkling of such ideas in advance.

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