That SINGLE retailer is simply the largest in the world afaik. They are so influential, companies build their offices in the same town as Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters. So influential that some companies have their people reciting the words of Sam Walton, the prophet for all who would work with Wal-Mart. They’re so influential, to not be in their stores can be corporate suicide.
It’s a little different than if podunk bookshop decides that Maxim is too racy for their stores. When Wal-Mart speaks, EVERYONE listens. I’m sure the folks at Maxim’s publisher are shivering in their boots despite their PR speak in the article.
You guys realize that the main reason we have small PC boxes today is because Wal-Mart insisted on them or they would stop carrying as many PC games. They demanded the box and they got it.
Seriously - I read an article about some mainstay product…was like Heinz ketchup < not that specifically, but that level of successful namebrand>. Walmart decided not to carry them and poof - 6 months later they were bankrupt. Walmart absolutely dictates price, style, and whether a product can succeed.
They are listening to a small subset of their customer base, yes, but I guarantee the majority of Wal-Mart customers couldn’t give a rat’s ass if they aren’t carrying 3 magazines. I can see the point of these wackos who don’t want those magazines in there, and do you really think that people are going to go “Fuck this shit! You don’t carry retarded magazines with mostly-naked celebrities and articles on how to get my girlfriend to have anal? Then I’m not buying your fucking ridiculously low priced yet moderately high quality merchandise.”
And really, who’s getting hurt here? Maxim et al. are going to do just as much business. Even more business now that some dumbfuck teenager who’d never heard of these magazines thinks that he should check out what’s so racy. It’s not hard to walk down the street to any of the millions of places who sell those magazines. If anything, Wal-Mart is giving back business to smaller book/magazine/grocery/convenience stores.
Wal-Mart can do whatever the hell they want. It’s their store.
If you can actually substantiate this vague remembrance I’d appreciate it. I’d really love to read that article. Sounds interesting.
Like I said though, too bad for Maxim. This isn’t censorship, it’s not a monopoly, and there’s nothing illegal about it. If Maxim is truly something people want to buy, they’ll buy it someplace else or they’ll subscribe.
While Walmart isn’t a monopoly, they do have something within spitting distance of the term in rural towns. There’s small cities all over the American midwest where it’s the only place to shop within a 2 hour drive.
Of course you can always subscribe to Maxim. I’m not sure how much it depends on Newstand sales. Wal-Mart has a frightening amount of clout and, even if you aren’t into what they’re currently banning, you should probably fear Wal-Mart’s fear of pissing off the Religious Right.
But you can only do that if you’re aware of the magazine’s existence and obtain the subscription address. The Internet makes such issues largely obsolete for people like us but others essentially no longer enjoy (passive) freedom of press once they rely on a quasi-monopolist to supply them with print products.
Um, right. But they’ve always had “(passive) freedom of the press” in remote places Christoph. If it wasn’t Wal-Mart, it would be Mom n’ Pop’s Feed Store not stocking Maxim. Look, remote rural American’s know how to use catalogs and US farmers are more Internet savvy than you’d think.
Not that that makes what Wal-Mart is doing “right” or “wrong”, I just hope they’re doing it for benign reasons.
They can stop stocking Maxim for all I care. They can even ban music they find offensive. I fear them banning competing products, trying to drive or punish companies they dislike to increase market share. Target is now selling Target branded potato chips. What if Target banned Frito/Lay?
As stated in by the “PR guy” at Maxim, only 3% of their newstand sales come from Wal-Mart, so it’s not like it’s a big deal for them.
Now if Amaco said that they wouldn’t be selling Maxim or Stuff in their gas stations anymore, I’m betting you’d see a much bigger reaction from Maxim’s spin control office.
But yeah, Wal-Mart does have a lot of control in a lot of sectors. Magazines isn’t one of them. Clothing and certain products like dishware or foodstuffs not being carried in Wal-Mart can kill a company (as already stated by earlier folks).
Music, Games, electronics, magazines and books aren’t really going to bankrupt anyone if Wal-Mart stops carrying them. Some companies have modified their games or music content to cater to Wal-Mart, but their numbers are small.
When people go shopping for clothes at Wal-Mart, they look at the prices, not the brand name. So if you don’t have your clothes in Wal-Mart, you are missing out on the whole Wal-Mart market (since folks will buy someone else’s brand instead of leaving Wal-Mart and looking for your products elsewhere). But if someone goes to Wal-Mart looking for Maxim, they are just going to go to one of the million other places to buy it if they don’t have a comparable product available.
