Stephanie Salazar
Mr.Fulton
English-1301
April 15, 2014

“Advertising”

In “The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know” Charles Fishman executed the perfect scare tactic to terrify
American consumers. Fishman’s lengthy article proved to be intelligent and bold as he informed
America on the “not just the world’s largest retailer. But the world’s largest company.( pg.553).” He instantly grabs the reader’s attention by opening with the story of Classic’s gallon jar of pickles and the fall of the company because of Wal-Mart’s guarantee of the lowest prices around. Although Fishman writes a very a long article, his flow of writing makes it easy to get through and comprehend due to his knowledge on past workers and manufacturers. He reveals the success of companies like Dial and the fall of American factories for companies such as Lovable, Huffy, and Levi’s due to the incredible sales of
Wal-Mart and the amount of business they hold for their employers. At some points in Fishmans’s article, there seemed to be no hope for redemption or counter argument for Wal-Mart. He spent most of the article demonizing Wal-Mart as a business of interrogation, forcing companies to change the way they do business for Wal-Mart to sell their products. His argument strengthened towards the conclusion, when he featured opinions from Wal-Mart supporters that claimed “(Wal-Mart) has helped everything-customer focus, inventory management, and speed to market (pg.540).” Fishman then topped it all off with a strong call to action, that “it is we as shoppers who have the power, and who have given that power to Wal-Mart (pg.541)” suggesting that we have contributed to this frightening problem as consumers, but we don't have to let outsourcing and weak profit gain continue. I have heard many horror stories about the way Wal-Mart treats their employees, but I have never been informed on the truth behind Wal-Mart’s shockingly low prices that give the company its edge. After reading the article, I visited the company’s website to their logo “Save
Money, Live better” and previews of the cheapest deals on electronics around. I can no longer help but to think who is living better and of what those companies have to go through in order to have their products sold at Wal-Mart. What amazes me even more is the fact that Wal-Mart has actually achieved such feats, that one company can hold the single largest profits for one manufacturer, which one company can become the largest in the world, and that one company can put so many Americans into unemployment. I can only imagine what the future holds for such a company. In relation to the next article, it also speaks on the topic of manipulating people to buy certain things by advertising them with a certain special or ad, this is called commercialism. In the article, “Every
Nook and Cranny: The Dangerous Spread of Commercialized Culture,” Gary Ruskin and Juliet Schor explain the negative impact big corporations have on the public. They describe how these corporations design advertising campaigns to manipulate people into buying their products. This type of advertising is called commercialism. According to Ruskin and Schor, “The rise of commercialism is an artifact of the growth of corporate power.”(pg.491). Ruskin and Schor enlighten their readers on how these corporations utilize their advertising campaigns. Advertisers have used