Not En Vogue
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Washington, D.C., August 24, 2005 – In its attempt to “fashion a new identity for itself,” as one analyst remarked in today’s Los Angeles Times, Wal-Mart has begun advertising in Vogue magazine. The latest issue of the women’s magazine contains eight pages of Wal-Mart advertisements and the company is slated to purchase 48 more pages of ads over the next year. Wal-Mart spent approximately $835,000 for the ads in the current issue of Vogue, according to estimates in the Los Angeles Times, which are intended to reach a more affluent, working woman consumer. The median annual household income of Vogue’s million-plus readers is over $59,000.
In response to Wal-Mart’s new ad efforts, Wal-Mart Watch spokesperson Tracy Sefl said: “Wal-Mart thinks educated women will be so excited about the prospect of cheap merchandise that they will forget about how Wal-Mart does business. Wal-Mart is facing the nation’s largest class action gender discrimination suit. They must hope working women care more about clothes, shoes, and purses and less about equal pay, promotions, and fair treatment in the workplace. Moreover, we look forward to a Wal-Mart ad that declares, ‘Better Health Care For Our Employees is The New Black.’”
Wal-Mart Facing Massive Discrimination Lawsuit for Refusing to Pay and Promote Female Employees The Same As Men. Wal-Mart is facing a historic class-action lawsuit including 1.6 million current and former female employees for gender discrimination. In 2003, Dr. Richard Drogin, Professor Emeritus from California State University, conducted a statistical analysis on the wages of female employees at Wal-Mart. His report was based on payroll data provided by the company for the years 1996-2001. Among the key findings:
• Women hourly workers earned up to 37 cents less per hour than their male counterparts.
• “Overall, women earned about $5,200 less than men, on the average, in 2001. Within the hourly workforce, women earned about $1,100 less than men, and about $14,500 less among management employees, in 2001.”
• Women comprised 67.9 percent of Wal-Mart’s total workforce. They comprised 70.2 percent of hourly employees but only 33.5 percent of its salaried employees.
• Women comprised 92.5 percent of Wal-Mart’s cashiers, but only 14.3 percent of Wal-Mart Store Managers. [The Impact Fund, http://www.walmartclass.com; New York Times, 12/30/04; Los Angeles Times, 6/23/04]
Read today’s Los Angeles Times article
