The Super Wal-Mart Bowl
February 3rd, 2008 | by Paul |Sorry about the infrequent blog postings this week. Apparently, the neighbor I’ve been stealing Wi-Fi from has gotten a little sneakier about keeping me out. I’ll win in the end. Oh yes, I will.
Today is the Super Bowl and it would be an understatement to say that it’s linked with big consumer bucks. According to this article the Canadian publication Financial Post, well, I’ll just let them say it:
“Consumer spending on “hard” goods such as flat-screen TVs, entertainment centres and comfy chairs is expected to hit as much as US$10-billion. That figure doesn’t include the many millions more Americans are forking out for pricey scalped tickets, private jets to the game, chicken wings and beer.”
One person spent $192,000 for two club-section seats on the 50-yard line, the article says.
Wal-Mart is among those trying to get into the act, cutting prices on items ranging from chips to flat-panel TVs by 10 to 30 percent to, as Reuters put it in this article, “win sales from cash-strapped shoppers ahead of the Super Bowl.”
That’s new this year. What was new last year but seems to be gone this year is Wal-Mart’s 2007 claims of Super Bowl super powers. In this press release from last year, Wal-Mart was saying its pre-game merchandise sales could predict the Super Bowl winner. Maybe the fact it was predicting the Bears last year was what led to getting out of the omniscience game.
It would be interesting to see Wal-Mart try to pressure out Jimmy the Greek and the Amazing Kreskin as if they were so many locally owned Mom-and-Pop stores.
By the way, you know how the winners have their ”Super Bowl champions” hats and T-shirts within seconds? That’s because the NFL prints up merchandise saying both sides won. I looked up what happens to the merchandise that says the losing team won, expecting something horrible and wasteful that I could feel all morally superior about.
Yeah, the NFL donates that to charity, according to this New York Times article. The shirts and hats go to developing nations, usually in Africa, and clothe starving children. Go NFL, seriously.