Wal-Mart Launches then Kills Social Network. PHEW!
Amit Chowdhry | Monday October 2, 2006 | 644 views
That was a close-call. There are some things that we do not want to have on the Internet, such as a Fortune 10 major supply-chain corporation building a social network. Wal-Mart’s social network target audience seemed to be the same demographic that are victims of online pedophilism on MySpace (young teenagers).
Walmart.com/schoolyourway was temporarily launched to “win fab prizes” and to increase brand awareness as many users of this demographic tend to prefer Target for their school needs.
A video of a girl sporting a strapless prom dress was featured on one of the videos displayed on the site where she mentioned “I’ll school my way by looking hot in my Wal-Mart clothes to school to catch a cute boy’s eye…” During my tenure in high school, I never once heard a girl say that she was looking hot in Wal-Mart clothes. This advertising doesn’t relate to the young ones! Just ask 14 year old girl, Amy Kandel who was interviewed by Ad Age. She stated “Some of the kids looked like they were trying to be supercool, but they weren’t at all, and they were just being kind of weird.”
Where this social network was placed, now there is a disclaimer stating, “Sorry, but the School Your Way promotion has ended. You will be redirected to Walmart.com where you can always find the hottest fashion, music, and more all year long.” Good riddance.
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