DVD
Wal-Mart
The High Cost of Low Price

Tartan DVD
RRP: £19.99
TVD 3658
Certificate: PG
Available 24 July 2006


The ethics of big business come under the spotlight in this enlightening documentary about the working practices of Wal-Mart, the world's largest supermarket store. Owners of Asda stores in the UK, this $100 billion American retailer has been expanding its operations globally and despite being one of the most powerful corporations in the world, it is also heavily criticised for business ethics. This film interviews workers and campaigners along with comments from Mal-Warts CEO...

Mal-Wart: The High Cost of Low Price is an interesting documentary will make you think enlighten you about greedy supermarket business practices - although to be honest its unlikely to make you change the way you shop. While I've been aware for years that Tesco (nothing to do with Wal-Mart, but it is the UK's largest retail supermarket chain) have been squeezing manufacturers to bring cheap goods to the consumer, and trying to provide a one-stop-shop for all your needs (be they banking, insurance etc) and slowly expanding the remit of what they do sell, I was never overly bothered.

If farmers have a problem with the low price point they get for selling milk to Tesco, then maybe they should not sell to them and look to sell elsewhere. Surely if all dairies said "No!" to the large supermarkets they wouldn't be able to sell things so cheaply.

I also didn't have a problem with large supermarkets coming into towns and putting all the local traders out of business. It may sound harsh, but that is how the times are changing. You can't stand in the way of progress. Did manufacturer's of horse and carts start getting all huffy when motor vehicles were introduced? Well, probably, but the fact is that people like the convenience of being able to buy all their weekly shopping under one roof. And, if it's cheaper than local independents, then so be it - that's competition.

But, I was equally aware that once the local business go out of business that, in the future when the supermarkets are used for everything - holidays, car sales etc - that the price can quite easily climb very steeply as consumers come to rely on the supermarkets if they have squeezed all the competition out of the market. This is not something this DVD touches upon, but it does look at how Wal-Mart harms, rather than benefits small towns.

This DVD is, obviously, aimed more at the American market. However it takes a global look and shows how Wal-Mart is penetrating the UK (thanks to it's purchase of the Asda chain) as well as other areas of the world. And it also examines some of the countries it exploits to make its cheap products.

The way that large corporations come in, practically use slave labour, exploit loopholes so that the government pay health insurance, and generally act as parasites is frightening stuff. It really is the stuff of bleak futuristic sci-fi movies.

Ironically this release is launched (24 July 2006) as an Asda store (owned by Wal-Mart) is in the process of being built in Newton Abbott, Devon, not that far from our offices. It's pretty obvious that part of their pitch involved promising the council that they would build a new road layout system to ease congestion (incidentally that's not necessarily the case as already we've noticed that the traffic lights are not designed to keep the traffic flowing as smoothly as they could be) and to get the locals on their side they are already proudly advertising the fact that they are footing the bill for this year's Christmas lights.

So, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Asda is actually stocking this DVD on it's website. However it describes the movie in ways I'm sure Wal-Mart will not approve of:

"This expose of what can be only be [sic] described as a corporate monster in [sic] fascinating and terrifying in equal measure."

Interesting to see that Asda describes its owners in those terms.

Extras on this disc include Deleted Scenes; Behind the Scenes featurette (16:30); Victory for Queens Market (4 mins featurette that interviews UK market traders after it's revealed that Wal-Mart's Asda will not be closing down their market); Robert Greenwald Interview (23 mins featurette that reveals many interesting facts. My favourite being the reluctance of Wal-Mart to participate in the film, yet once it was released they attacked it for it's once sidedness); and original theatrical trailer.

The Deleted Scenes are split into England, Canada and Sermons sub sections and I was surprised that some of these scenes were cut. For example, in the England section we learn that when a supermarket offers you a 2-for-1 offer it's not them being generous - they only pay the manufacturer for 50% of their stock. This is made even more sickening when you think of the number of people who don't see the "2-for-1" offer and only purchase one. I've done that myself a few times.

To be quite honest, this is nowhere near as shocking, or hard hitting as Super Size Me or any of Michael Moore's movies, and at times I felt for the director - there were so many points to raise that it was obviously difficult for the production to know where it's focus was. There were so many points raised that I would gladly have sat through a 3hr+ version of this movie.

Everyone should watch this movie. It may not change the way you shop (we are all lazy gits at heart) but it will certainly make you think.

Darren Rea

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All prices correct at time of going to press.