Wal-Mart, seeing more teen shopping dollars going to Target, is trying to woo the cool kids back by building its own MySpace-type of site.
Except, of course, it's patently filled with actors, and Wal-Mart has placed strict restrictions on content.
The opening page shows video of four teens -- a bubbly fashionista, a Texas football player, a quirky skateboarder and an aspiring R&B singer from New York -- who are clearly actors reading a script, although the videos are positioned to appear authentic. Within, there are pages such as "Beth's Backyard Club," where you find a picture of her in a strapless prom dress above the approved quote: "I'll school my way by looking hot in my Wal-Mart clothes to school to catch a cute boy's eye.
[...] But if Wal-Mart thought it could win over Amy Kandel, 14, of Columbus, Ohio, it was wrong. "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," she said. "Are these real kids?"
Nor did it impress Pete Hughes, 18. "It just seemed kind of corny to me," he said.
Wal-Mart declined to comment.
Because, yeah, that's the kind of thing that will get the kids to want to shop at Wal-Mart. Get down with the street, homies. Da Wal is in da Mart!
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