Site ties ‘Apes’ flick to films about blacks
By TRACY CONNOR
Wal-Mart stirred outrage yesterday when its Web site suggested that
shoppers who wanted to buy a “Planet of the Apes” DVD would be
interested in biopics of famous black Americans like Martin Luther
King Jr.
The giant retailer blamed a computer glitch for the “offensive”
recommendations – and said it was overhauling its online operations
until a fix could be made.
“We are heartsick that this happened and are currently doing
everything possible to correct the problem,” Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona
Williams said. “We are deeply sorry that this happened.”
When visitors to Walmart.com plug in the name of a movie they want,
the site also pulls up the name of several other “similar items” they
might like.
For instance, a shopper who enters “Million Dollar Baby” is offered
other 2004 hits like “The Aviator” and “Ray.”
But in the case of “Planet of the Apes,” consumers who clicked on the
DVD of the original TV series – a cult classic in which the Earth is
ruled by gorillas – were routed to four movies about King, actress
Dorothy Dandridge, boxer Jack Johnson and singer Tina Turner.
Ugh thats bad…
things like that hapen ll the time. Like someone putting the ord Jew into their predective text on a mobile phone and it comin up NAZI or something. *it doesent! im just makin an example!)
Arlene Elshinnawy is not going to like this over racism from Wal-mart. She went bye-bye on April 20, 2008. She was married to a man from Egypt.