How Walmart tipped others in the blog pulse July 2008

http://www.adweek.com/aw/data-center/buzz-metrics/index.jsp
Once Again, the World Belongs to Wal-Mart
July 10, 2008

—By Tim Nudd

Wal-Mart has seen a sudden spike on our Brands Blog Buzz chart this week, leaping up to No. 1 as bloggers digest the latest news about the world's largest retailer (or more likely, blog for friends and family about their latest shopping trips there). Topping the Wal-Mart news this week is the retailer's announcement that its sales jumped 5.8% in June—a gain credited largely to the U.S. government's economic stimulus payments to consumers. Still, some U.S. bloggers are feeling less than patriotic about it. "Thanks to your decision to spend your money at Wally and their brethren, you ensured that our economic stimulus package stimulated China's economy," complains The House of Flying Monkeys. "For the slow learners, here's how it worked: Our incentive money was spent at Wal-Mart, on cheap Chinese junk." In other news, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia said this week that it will sell its Martha Stewart Crafts line at Wal-Mart starting this month. If nothing else, this excited people who blog about Martha Stewart exclusively. "I was honestly quite surprised by how reasonable the price points were. I'm not just saying that!" writes the not-at-all-biased Martha Moments blog. In less sanguine news, Wal-Mart this week also red-facedly pulled from its shelves an allegedly racist comic book that features a black character named Memín Pinguín, whose face resembles that of a monkey. This news led the cartoonist/blogger Slightly Off-Topic to whip up a tribute cartoon of his own—one mock-sanitized by Wal-Mart. Finally, what would a week of Wal-Mart posts be without a good old-fashioned anti-Wal-Mart rant? This one is provided for you by Customer Experience Vigilante, an ex-fan of Wal-Mart's who's become disillusioned with the company—and who relates a fairly humorous horror-story visit to a Wal-Mart store. "I want to scream and pull my hair out by the roots whenever I go into a Wal-Mart," she writes. "Why I put myself through it again and again, I will never know. It's almost like I have amnesia from one visit to the next."