WALMART BACKS OFF, NOW KMART TO CENSOR GAMES
William Ashford, Business Correspondent
March 16 2008
Hoffman Estates, MI – After a slew of harsh reactions from consumers and investors, Wal-Mart has backed off on its controversial decision to cover M rated titles with black sleeves. The announcement, made early last month, drew criticism from virtually all areas of the industry.
“We have listened to our customers and retail partners and made the decision to drop the plan. Our responsibility is to our customers, and they have spoken. We will honor that,” said the company.
That hasn’t stopped one of their competitors from picking up on the plan though. Kmart released a statement on Friday stating their plan to not only cover all M rated titles with a black sleeve, but also to cover every title in their inventory and place their own warning stickers on the titles.
A statement, available on their website, said in part, “We believe we must protect our consumer’s best interests. Videogames contain all types of vulgarity and violence and we will not allow any underage persons to access these titles under any circumstances. This marks the beginning of a whole new era of trust between us and our customers and we are proud and happy to roll this project out worldwide.”
So far there has been little of the hue and cry that came in the wake of the original announcement by Wal- Mart, but the company hopes for a similar type of reaction.
“We would be lying if we said we couldn’t use that kind of press, but we really truly believe this is the best thing for Kmart customers,” said spokesperson Bill Dwight. “Hopefully the exposure will help to bring more customers to our family friendly environment, an environment our competitors apparently are not interested in creating.”
Retail analysts, many of whom were split over the Wal-Mart decision, seem less interested in this recent announcement.
“I mean I knew theoretically that Kmart was still around, but does anyone actually shop there still? I can’t see how this is going to make any kind of difference to anything at all,” said analyst Anne French. “I mean God bless them for trying, but they are just pouring money down the drain with this. They could have utilized some of that cash to replace their floor tiles or bought shelving that has been made after 1980. We’ll see, but I doubt it’s going to have any significant impact on their business.”
The black sleeves will cover “90% of the cover”, the new sticker will run along the bottom of all titles in the store. So far, there has been no response from either Wal-Mart or any videogame publishers.
