Nazi book burning image used by Walmart to get what it wants (then apologizes)

Kathleen writes “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said yesterday that it made a “terrible” mistake in approving a recent newspaper advertisement that equated a proposed Arizona zoning ordinance with Nazi book-burning. The full-page advertisement included a 1933 photo of people throwing books on a pyre at Berlin’s Opernplatz. It was run as part of a campaign against a Flagstaff ballot proposal that would restrict Wal-Mart from expanding a local store to include a grocery.”

May 15, 2005 by Uncategorized 4

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4 Responses

  1. GrumpyOldMan says:
    May 16, 2005 at 5:12 am

    Freedom to consume=free speech?
    Is consumption a form of speech? Is the market a public forum? Is this in the constitution? Are zoning regulations confiscatory, unless of course, they protect YOUR property? Discuss.

    Reply
  2. Fang-Face says:
    May 16, 2005 at 6:43 am

    Re:Freedom to consume=free speech?
    The U.S. Supreme Court interprets “free speech” to mean not just the ability to transmit ideas without interference but also to receive them without interference. A marketplace is a kind of public forum, but not in the sense where anyone can speak without interference (although they can, albeit perhaps subject to certain reasonable restrictions, which would render the milieu a limited public forum); rather it’s a place where you speak by voting with your feet or your disposable income. A marketplace is part of the free market of ideas. Some zoning laws are abused in a confiscatory manner. There are cities with restrictive zoning laws where a sex trade market cannot open within so many feet of certain institutions, and which cities then allowed such institutions to be built within this restriction zone and then tried to force the businesses to close.

    Reply
  3. Lis says:
    May 16, 2005 at 6:49 am

    They haven’t gotten what they want yet
    Proposition 100 is being voted on Tuesday. With the negative publicity generated by this ad, Wal-Mart may actually have reduced its chances of defeating Prop. 100.

    Reply
  4. kylere says:
    May 16, 2005 at 5:43 pm

    I am not surprised

    Wal-Mart is everything that is wrong with laissez-faire economics rolled into one crush-the-competition-and-make-bread-with-their-cr ushed bones package.

    PBS Frontline covered it very well, as you can read at PBS.org I could expand on the issue, but they did it so well, I would feel like a student aide covering what a librarian had already presented.

    Reply

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