# Wal-Mart Thanksgiving commercial **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 1, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791 "2006-11-01T22:15:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/61 "2006-11-03T18:14:40Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] I’m not entirely certain you’re making things any better with that, **tdn**. [/QUOTE] Meh, what are ya gonna do? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/62 "2006-11-03T18:27:01Z")
[QUOTE=Dangerosa] A turkey isn’t a turkey. Some of the people are simply saying that they won’t buy Butterballs. I used to get my turkey fresh from the local butcher - those were some great birds (I haven’t hosted Thanksgiving in years). Fruits and vegetables from my co-op or the farmers market are so much better tasting than the ones from the grocery store (and the hamburger from the co-op - twice as expensive, but the best hamburger ever…). [/QUOTE] I was going to suggest the farmers market as a way of getting produce both cheaper and better than the normal stores. In California, our farmers markets only have food grown locally. How do the ones in Minnesota work, and is there anything available in November? We don’t have to worry about going to the market in a blizzard here. 😉 My dislike of WalMart is targeted at the management who screws both employees and suppliers, not at customers or the people who have to work there. But it bothers me that the friendly and helpful checkers in the Safeway I shop at are getting hurt by the WalMart moving nearby. It’s not that I like to throw money away - we also go to Costco who doesn’t screw their employees. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/63 "2006-11-03T18:41:02Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Unless caviar is one of your trimmings. [/QUOTE] “What are you doing? That caviar is a _garnish_!” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/64 "2006-11-03T18:46:24Z")
[QUOTE=Dangerosa] A turkey isn’t a turkey. [/QUOTE] It isn’t?, Well then, what _is_ a turkey? And conversely, what is a turkey? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/65 "2006-11-03T18:59:52Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] I dunno, the big feeds my best friends put on, where they have a dozen or 15 people over, from great-grandparents to little babies, cost in the area of $450, plus days of preparation time. And they have to plan it all carefully. Maybe that means they are not comfortably middle-class. [/QUOTE] Unless the guests are sumo wrestlers, or a very considerable amount of premium alcohol is being purchased by the host, if it’s being made from scratch, as your description seems to indicate, I simply don’t see how spending this amount on ingredients is possible for a typical 15 person Thanksgiving family dinner. If a bunch of exotic or super premium ingredients are being used the $ 450 price is a possibility, but then it’ not a typical Thanksgiving dinner. Typical Thanksgiving dinners ingredients like turkeys, potatoes, green beans, stuffing, yams etc. etc. are by and large fairly inexpensive on a per person basis as dinners go. Besides all that re the alcohol it’s often typical for guests to bring a bottle. With 15 people attending and assuming at least 5-8 adults the host shouldn’t have to be shelling out for more than $ 30 for one or two bottles of a decent dinner wine. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/66 "2006-11-03T19:00:19Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] I was going to suggest the farmers market as a way of getting produce both cheaper and better than the normal stores. In California, our farmers markets only have food grown locally. How do the ones in Minnesota work, and is there anything available in November? We don’t have to worry about going to the market in a blizzard here. 😉 [/QUOTE] > **[Saint Paul Farmers' Market – Locally Grown Since 1854](https://stpaulfarmersmarket.com/)** Not a lot of produce in the winter - cheese, jellies, honey, meats…Christmas trees in December. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/67 "2006-11-05T17:24:39Z")
[QUOTE=ShelliBean] They sell Butterballs at WalMart just like they do at regular grocery stores. [/QUOTE] Super WalMarts and WalMart Neighborhood Markets, yes. Not at normal WalMarts. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/68 "2006-11-05T20:31:39Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Did they focus on the label on the turkey: Product of China. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Ah, he wasn’t really sleeping on the chair - he had bird flu. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/69 "2006-11-06T16:09:14Z")
[QUOTE=astro] If a bunch of exotic or super premium ingredients are being used the $ 450 price is a possibility, but then it’ not a typical Thanksgiving dinner. Typical Thanksgiving dinners ingredients like turkeys, potatoes, green beans, stuffing, yams etc. etc. are by and large fairly inexpensive on a per person basis as dinners go. [/QUOTE] Well, kind of. For 18 people in 2002: Turkey, stuffing (2 kinds), mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, hubbard squash puree, salad, pickles/olive tray, green been casserole, carrots, corn, rolls, butter, 3 kinds of pie, coffee and ice cream - $192. If you add in Hors d’oerves - which I do - you can hit $250 pretty easily. I can’t address the wine issue - if someone wants to drink wine, they can bring their own. We drink Old Style. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/70 "2006-11-07T01:05:51Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] I haven’t seen the commercial but from the description it’s like this: The man is typically just a stupid moron. The woman is typically intelligent and reassures the husband-idiot she knows how to best spend his money. Why isn’t everyone a little insulted? [/QUOTE] IT’S THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF IDIOT MAN-CHILD AND üBER-MOM!!! Sorry, that’s a real peeve of mine. At least they didn’t have any snotty little baby geniuses chiming it to tell dad how stupid he is. ---
**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/71 "2006-11-07T05:03:08Z")
I’ve seen the ad, and I don’t think the guy’s stupid. He’s just an asshole. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2006, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/72 "2006-11-07T14:28:25Z")
Yeah, he’s the same guy who grumbles about the son-in-law “spending the grandchildren’s college fund” on a big-screen TV.\* Why does he get invited anywhere? _turns out he bought it at Wal_Mart so all is well. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791/73 "2006-11-08T14:10:31Z")
My gripe with theses two ads is that they miss the mark in so many ways. The dialogue is so understated that the first two times I missed what the dad was saying…there’s really crappy acting going on. And they could have hit the emotional mark or the humorous mark, but they miss on both counts. There’s no laugh, the reactions are understated to the point of monotone…it’s just a mess. Poorly acted and directed and scrited…no timing, no drama…even when the Dad grumps about the college fund thing and the nebbish-y guy says he bought it at Wal-Mart, there is no real positive reaction from the Dad…just another grunt. So just a waste of money when they could have made something a bit more emotional…not so boring. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-thanksgiving-commercial/378791.md?page=3)