Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: WalMart sued for the F Word....

This is topic WalMart sued for the F Word.... in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=003755

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 12-10-2004, 08:01 PM:

Yes it's a nation of nine year old's!!!

Wal-Mart Sued Over Evanescence CD Lyrics

By DAVID DISHNEAU, Associated Press Writer

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which promotes itself as a seller of clean music, deceived customers by stocking compact discs by the rock group Evanescence that contain the f-word, a lawsuit claims.

The hit group's latest CD and DVD, "Anywhere But Home," don't carry parental advisory labels alerting potential buyers to the obscenity. If they did, Wal-Mart wouldn't carry them, according to the retailer's policy.

But the lawsuit claims Wal-Mart knew about the explicit lyrics in the song, "Thoughtless," because it censored the word in a free sample available on its Web site and in its stores.

The complaint, filed Thursday in Washington County Circuit Court, seeks an order requiring Wal-Mart to either censor or remove the music from its Maryland stores. It also seeks damages of up to $74,500 for each of the thousands of people who bought the music at Wal-Marts in Maryland.

"I don't want any other families to get this, expecting it to be clean. It needs to be removed from the shelves to prevent other children from hearing it," said plaintiff Trevin Skeens of Brownsville.

Skeens said he and his wife, Melanie, let their daughter buy the music for her 13th birthday and were shocked when they played it in their car while driving home.

Wal-Mart, of Bentonville, Ark., has no immediate plans to pull the CDs from its shelves, spokesman Guy Whitcomb told The (Hagerstown) Herald-Mail. He said the company will investigate the allegations. No hearing dates have been set.

"While Wal-Mart sets high standards, it would not be possible to eliminate every image, word or topic that an individual might find objectionable," Whitcomb told the newspaper.

He told the Herald-Mail that the song sample online was censored by Walmart.com, a separate division of Wal-Mart.

Whitcomb didn't return telephone calls Friday from The Associated Press.

The lawsuit also names as defendants Wind-up Records LLC, the New York-based company that recorded the music and decided not to apply parental-advisory stickers; and distributor BMG Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, of New York.

Sony BMG declined to comment on the lawsuit. Wind-up didn't return calls from the AP.

The Skeens' lawyer, Jon D. Pels of Bethesda, said he aims to "take this case national, even if that means going state by state."

He dismissed Whitcomb's suggestion that Wal-Mart stores didn't know about the censored version of the song. "They are a multimillion-dollar corporation and they certainly can communicate among their various entities," he said.

Posted by Andrew Shingleton (Member # 2257) on 12-10-2004, 08:56 PM:

How did they arrive at the $74,500 figure? In fact, how can they claim "damages" at all? If you could get a payout every single time you heard that word, most people would never have to work again!

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 12-10-2004, 10:27 PM:

I'm gonna buy Team America at Wal-Mart when it comes out on DVD so I can enjoy it without cuss words. Wait, the movies there are censored too, right?? [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-10-2004, 11:39 PM:

I think we should all buy some stock...even if only a few shares...and make it clear to their management that most people are opposed to censorship. Stock your media department in conjunction with sound business practices like any other media store.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 12-11-2004, 03:43 AM:

quote: Dave Williams
The lawsuit also names as defendants Wind-up Records LLC, the New York-based company that recorded the music and decided not to apply parental-advisory stickers; and distributor BMG Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, of New York.

it was my impression (and hope) that the parental/paternal/prenatal advisory stickers were voluntary. not that the rest of the lawsuit is any less frivolous, of course.

carl

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 12-11-2004, 10:11 AM:

So I take it Wal-Mart is not the place to go if I want to buy a Quentin Tarantino DVD or an Eminem album then...

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 12-11-2004, 11:33 AM:

WalMart is not the place to go, period. Never never never. Bad juju. [Wink]

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-11-2004, 12:12 PM:

As much as I don't like silly, frivilous lawsuits, I'm all for this one.

Companies need to learn that they can't go around instituting policies just because they look and sound good to the public. If Wal-Mart is going to institute a policy of censorship then they are going to have to stick to it, no matter what the cost.

It sounds to me like they are saying, "We are a family friendly, no cuss-word kind of place." But when a hot selling CD comes out they casually "forget" about their policies so they can make a quick buck.

If Wal-Mart is truly going to stick to this censorship policy they are going to have to hire a committe of blue-haired old ladies to sit down to watch and/or listen to every second of every video and music CD in their inventory and approve it BEFORE it goes onto their shelves. Anything less is proof that they do not institute policies based on what they think is good for the community but based on how much money they can pack into their bank accounts in the short-term.

Just like several years ago when they decided not to sell handguns in their Sporting Goods departments but, to this day, many of they still sell handgun ammumition!

Wal-Mart needs to learn a lesson. This isn't just a bunch of bullshit they can peddle when it serves their purpose!

Posted by Adam Wilbert (Member # 1184) on 12-11-2004, 12:36 PM:

aren't the lyrics printed in the liner notes of the cd? It sounds like the parents were being lazy and passive.

It was my impression too that the rating system was voluntary, just like the MPAA and the ESRB.

I'm pretty sure that they don't carry censored DVDs.

Anyway, the lyrics are here if you want to see them all, but:

quote:
Why are you trying to make fun of me?
You think it's funny?
What the fuck you think it's doing to me?
You take your turn lashing out at me
I want you crying with your dirty ass in front of me

quote:
Thumbing through the pages of my fantasies
I'm above you, smiling at you, drown, drown, drown
I wanna kill and rape you the way you raped me
And I'll pull the trigger
And you're down, down, down

if I were a parent, i'd object to that last bit more than the first...

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-11-2004, 12:43 PM:

The saddest part is the way the musicians of today can't get their point across without resorting to that kind of stuff. I mean, Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" was one of the dirtiest records of the 1970s, but there's not a censorable word in the song! [evil]

Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 12-11-2004, 12:57 PM:

I could go on and on on how Walmart is a bad bad company but I wont (Walmart says:"no foul language here folks, BUT WE GOT GUNS!")

Anyone remember them changing Nirvana's song "rape me" into "waif me"?

As an independent record store clerk, it is my duty to tell everyone that even though we can not compete with Walmarts prices (they tell the companies how much they want to sell their item so they best comply or else..) we believe in freedom of expression: Bad language, blood/guts/gore, tits, asses, etc etc. Soooo, if your looking for that hard to find import Carcass album with all it's foul glory, then go to your local mom and pop record store. If your looking for songs like Waif Me, then go to Walmart. Want to buy the new copy of a Maxim magazine? Then come to us since Walmart wont carry them. Need a Pantera shirt with a stripper and a pot leaf on it! WE GOT EM! Bet you wont find those at your local Walmart.

I am now going to get off my soap box.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 12-11-2004, 03:19 PM:

one thing you must understand about this band and the whole situation is this. When their first album came out they became associated by mistake by the christian comunity. The band out right said thaey where not a christian influanced band. Now when one goes out to by the new album they assume that it will be clean and sobber of all bad.

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 12-12-2004, 12:57 AM:

...A nation of nine-year-olds.....

Seems most nine-year-olds these days say fuck anyway. And where did they learn it from? Well, at the motocross tracks I worked at/raced at, seems daddy (And sometimes mommy) was the #1 offender.... [evil]

It all starts with lack of parental responsibility..... [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Barry Martin (Member # 1376) on 12-12-2004, 05:41 AM:

Motorcross or them bringing their kids to see South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut or Team America: World Police. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 12-12-2004, 08:12 AM:

They bought this disc for a 13 year old? Whats up here? Did she live in a convent? Can they say that she has never heard the word before? Hmmm...

I want everything Bigger Longer and UNCUT!!!!

Posted by Floyd Justin Newton (Member # 1316) on 12-12-2004, 08:43 AM:

Right on Bruce and Dave. It's about time for all these dolly-
good-bodies stop telling everyone else what they can or cannot do. This is America where we have Free Speech, or at least I
thought so. In a nutshell... FUCK ON!!

fjn
Local 294 Ret

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-12-2004, 10:15 AM:

Randy:

Does Walmart actually state anywhere that such items will not be found in their media department or is this just something we all know from experience and news reports? If they have never publically articulated such a policy then they are not liable for damages for not following it. Gee, we always heard you won't carry naughty stuff...I read it somewhere...and now I find the F word on a disk I bought there. That hardly sounds like a tort.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 12-12-2004, 12:39 PM:

I have searched high and low, and I cannot find anywhere that walmart has an official policy regarding such issues.

They do however have a history of removing music releases that have objectionable lyrics. They do state unofficially that they try to carry more clean music than not.

This suit has no real legs to it. It is nothing more than tripe. Stupid parents wanting free money for thier brat's college education and thier own need for bermuda vacations.

Censorship is not a law. In fact, last I looked, it is the EXACT OPPOSITE of our law.

Ciao baby

Dave

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 12-12-2004, 12:44 PM:

I, too, have looked and couldn't find an official policy for standards of decency in the music Wal-Mart sells.

I just assumed it was official policy.

Since there doesn't seem to be a policy, or at least a written one, then I agree that the suit has no merit. However, I still contend that Wal-Mart is doing nothing more than saying they are for "Family Values" when it suits them and casually forgetting about it when they can make an extra buck.

They just got away with it this time.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 12-12-2004, 10:04 PM:

Their "policy" is not to carry stickered CDs. They have no policy about DVDs that I know of except maybe not to carry NC-17 ones. (I checked with a friend of mine who works at a WM, and he gave me this info.)

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-12-2004, 10:33 PM:

I hope you weren't interrupting his off-the-clock work! It's funny if you think about it. Bad words all over the movies and that's ok save for NC-17 but oh, if someone sings those same words then it's bad. Do they carry bibles? There's plenty of good raunch in there. Sex and violence from cover to cover.

Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 12-12-2004, 10:52 PM:

How many Super Walmart's does everyone have in their town? I live in Peoria IL, and including 3 smaller towns around (i just call them the suburbs of Peoria) we have 6. So thats about a 40 mile radius, if that, with 6 freegin' Super Walmart's.

And how many of your Walmart's are now building gas stations in their parking lots?!?!

ugh.

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 12-12-2004, 11:23 PM:

Allison...

One better... I have 6 Super WM's in my town within a 30 sqaure mile radius... and at least four Lowes supercenters... four or five home Depot SC's, Costco and Sams.

In a town with a year round population of approx. 200k. Summer swells in excess of 1 million/week.

Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 12-12-2004, 11:28 PM:

Jason,

hehe how many Wings stores do you have around your house????!! There's another off-shoot of Wings but I can't think of what it's called.

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-13-2004, 07:10 AM:

Wings? What's that? Paul McCartney is in the discount business?

I'm Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club man. I hope I will enjoy my show. -- Apu

No Super Walmarts near here (suburban Chicago) but our Walmart / Sam's Club combo store has a gas station. A Sam's card knocks 5¢ off the base price. Sometimes this is substantially less than the regular discount stations; sometimes not. I like the unmanned (except for an attendent who rarely emerges) nature but then I'm anti-social. [Big Grin]

At least there's no competing with cigarette buyers for space at the pumps.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 12-13-2004, 08:31 AM:

I never understood all of that Sgt. Pepper BS that the Beatles went through. The cocaine and/or heroin must have been pretty strong during those days (and also when they wrote "Yellow Submarine" which is the worst song ever).

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 12-13-2004, 09:12 AM:

It's about time we heard from you, Joe, considering you probably invented most of the dirty words presently in use. Shame on you for what you did to tossed salad. [evil]

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 12-13-2004, 09:39 AM:

I think Wal-mart instigated that policy when all the controversy started happening with one of Eminem's early Recordings.

Posted by Tom Simcoe (Member # 2799) on 12-13-2004, 08:11 PM:

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA ALLL I HAVE TO SAY IS HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA....

Wal-Mart has there rod so far up there ass on censorship they could make South Park into a rated G program. I think it is so funny.

Posted by Greg Routenburg (Member # 1742) on 12-13-2004, 09:04 PM:

Stories like this make me want to crawl into a hole and wait for the little green (or whatever colour we think they are this month) men from the the planet circling the second star on the right to come pick me up and take me away from everything that is becoming of the human race. I mean really!!! I hope the judge laughs the stupid F$*#'s out of the court room and orders they pay some debt to society for breathing our precious air!

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 12-13-2004, 09:15 PM:

Hey! Is this a Class-Action lawsuit? If so I want in... In fact, everyone RUN TO WAL-MART and buy these CDs to get in on the suit:

Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits -- I bought this in 1997 back when the big "We Censor ALL CDs!" thing hit at Wal Mart. Lo and behold, TRACK 10 - Ball and Chain - "...because as a matter of fact, as we discovered out on the terrain, tomorrow never happens, man. It's all the same FUCKING day, man..."

BASEketball Soundtrack -- Bought this in 1998 at Walmart. A couple tracks say Fuck, one in particular is "Take on Me" by Reel Big Fish. When the song breaks down at the end, you hear: "PLEASE! Take it the FUCK away...." Also on Track 11, Goldfinger-Hopeless: "Sometimes I feel like a failure, or am I just fed up? Sometimes it just seems useless, or am I that FUCKED up?" Oops again, Walley World!

John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band -- Bought this in 1999. Why the hell do I keep going to Wal Mart?!? Anyway... Track 4, "Working Class Hero"... enough said.

So where the hell is MY settlement cheque!?! ALL of these CDs were bought by me before I was 18 and my virgin ears were so scarred that it has led me into a live of drugs and prostitution. [Big Grin]

I WANT MY MONEY! SUE THE BASTARDS!!
"Es ist Zeit fur Reich! Wir Mussen die Walmart Ausrotten!"

=TMP=

[ 12-13-2004, 10:23 PM: Message edited by: Thomas Procyk ]

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 12-13-2004, 11:27 PM:

Alison..

Sweet Jesus... you had to bring that up, huh?

There have GOT to be AT LEAST 200 beach wear stores within the same distance.... Wings, Eagles, Pacific and all the knock off no namers.. which are still owned by Lebanese and Israeli folks... Money laundering facilities... I won't step foot into ANY of them.

Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 12-13-2004, 11:48 PM:

Jason,
My family and I go down to Pensicola Flordia/Orange Beach, AL (or whats left of it after Hurrican Ivan..) every year and I can throw a rock and hit a Surf City or Wings store.

I have been to Myrtle Beach once in my life and seriously..thats all I remember..all the beach stores. And the sad thing is, they all have the same exact CRAP in each and every one of them. Actually, I remember that if you added the total of beach stores and golf courses, that it probably would excede the population there [Smile]

Does anyone know if Walmart cards for R rated movie-buying? Shopko just started awhile back.