Marv and I celebrated our first anniversary as a couple in 1994 by going out to a nice restaurant in Palo Alto, California then to the newly opened Wal-Mart across the San Francisco Bay in Union City. It was the first Wal-Mart I had ever been to and I was excited to go because it was the largest store of its kind in the area and I’d heard that the bargains were unbeatable. Not that I had much to buy as a college student. I think I only picked up a pair of leggings.

Since then, I’ve decided that I prefer Target especially after hearing about Wal-Mart’s unfair employment practices. Now there’s another reason for me to avoid going there–Wal-Mart TV, their in-store TV network which is the fifth-largest in the U.S. after NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox. I can’t imagine anything more annoying than having to dodge the 42-inch (107 cm) screens placed all over the store bombarding customers with ads of all kinds for junk food, movies, rock concerts, and even corporate messages designed to improve Wal-Mart’s public image.

Here’s where the TV-B-Gone would come in real handy. (See previous post.)

The New York Times, February 21, 2005