Wal-Mart monkey biz Site ties 'Apes' flick to films about blacks

[willy_jack]

I refuse to shop at this store ever.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-323077c.html

Wal-Mart monkey biz
Site ties 'Apes' flick to films about blacks

"Wal-Mart stirred outrage yesterday when its Web site suggested that shoppers who wanted to buy a "Planet of the Apes" DVD would be interested in biopics of famous black Americans like Martin Luther King Jr. The giant retailer blamed a computer glitch for the "offensive" recommendations - and said it was overhauling its online operations until a fix could be made.

"We are heartsick that this happened and are currently doing everything possible to correct the problem," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said. "We are deeply sorry that this happened."

When visitors to Walmart.com plug in the name of a movie they want, the site also pulls up the name of several other "similar items" they might like. For instance, a shopper who enters "Million Dollar Baby" is offered other 2004 hits like "The Aviator" and "Ray."

But in the case of "Planet of the Apes," consumers who clicked on the DVD of the original TV series - a cult classic in which the Earth is ruled by gorillas - were routed to four movies about King, actress Dorothy Dandridge, boxer Jack Johnson and singer Tina Turner.

New Yorkers were disturbed.

"They are making a statement relating apes to black movies?" wondered Denise Brown, 36, of East New York, Brooklyn. "'Planet of the Apes' was a science fiction movie. What does Martin Luther King have to do with that?"

"It's outrageous. I've never heard of anything like that," the Rev. Al Sharpton said when he was told of the pairings. "They need to straighten it out, and if they do not clarify what happened, we need to take some action."

Wal-Mart said it began investigating as soon as it heard of the problem.

The culprit is a "mapping" program that selects alternate recommendations for each of the thousands of movies it sells online.

The process "does not work correctly and at this point is mapping seemingly random combinations of titles," Williams said. "We were horrified to discover that some hurtful and offensive combinations are being mapped together."

As evidence that the "Planet of the Apes" recommendations were not intended as a slur, Wal-Mart pointed out that the film "Home Alone" yielded the same suggestions. The company planned to remove the questionable combos from its Web site last night and suspend its entire "cross-selling" program until the snafu is corrected."

[E-Nice]

Why the offense? We all came from Apes.

[zerojunkie]

Originally Posted by E-Nice

Why the offense? We all came from Apes.

and from africa to boot. wait...we're the planet of the apes...noooooooooooooo you bastards!!!!!

[kELSEY]

uhm....Planet of the Apes is widely known for it's social comentary about oppression and slavery.

edit: and it has nothing to do with comparing black people to apes.

[la dj]

Originally Posted by kELSEY

uhm....Planet of the Apes is widely known for it's social comentary about oppression and slavery.

edit: and it has nothing to do with comparing black people to apes.

are the people that are "offended" just retarded??

[Cock Puncher]

Originally Posted by kELSEY

uhm....Planet of the Apes is widely known for it's social comentary about oppression and slavery.

edit: and it has nothing to do with comparing black people to apes.

I concur

[Element4040]

Originally Posted by kELSEY

uhm....Planet of the Apes is widely known for it's social comentary about oppression and slavery.

edit: and it has nothing to do with comparing black people to apes.

Bahahahah, a bunch of stupid people just got OWNED!

[kELSEY]

it's strange that WalMart blamed it on a computer glitch.....or maybe they're just nervous that any kind of explanation will somehow confirm the black/ape sensationalism

[kELSEY]

Originally Posted by la dj

are the people that are "offended" just retarded??

and yes.

[Rufus Punk]

See what the 1990's did to us?

Being PC even on your PC is going to be forever now.

Goodbye humor and off-color topics. We knew ye well.


I don't find it offensive, but I see how it could be percieved that way. I think the reason for them playing the blame game is not only a move to socially save face, but also to remain strong as a control authority.

This is the same company we are talking about that has CDs change covers (and in some instance lyrics) in order to be carried in its stores. Let this stand and the Southern populace (read NAACP) will be all up in their guts for recompense.

Good call, Wally world.

[johnny861]

Originally Posted by kELSEY

uhm....Planet of the Apes is widely known for it's social comentary about oppression and slavery.

edit: and it has nothing to do with comparing black people to apes.

The irony is that the programmers now had to manufacture a glitch to prevent the AI working correctly.

10 bucks says it's a db table called CrossReferenceExclusions

and they got 5 people manually plugging in titles.

[Hey Bubu]

Originally Posted by johnny861

The irony is that the programmers now had to manufacture a glitch to prevent the AI working correctly.

10 bucks says it's a db table called CrossReferenceExclusions

and they got 5 people manually plugging in titles.

Or a giant db of mainly black movie titles, directors and actors to set up as an exclusions list. HAHAH sold to them by IMDB.

[KING SIZE]

Originally Posted by willy_jack

I refuse to shop at this store ever.

does it ever stop with you? it must've been a plot by bush to bash black people through clever wal-mart e-commerce.

[Rufus Punk]

Originally Posted by bolden

does it ever stop with you? it must've been a plot by bush to bash black people through clever wal-mart e-commerce.

Glaudedamn, that's funny. Bush and Undead Sam Walton making mo' betta' chedda'.

#()*TH#)G#)_N!!!

[la dj]

i refuse to shop at wal mart for various other reasons.

down with big box stores!!!!!!