Walmart Ad in Alvin Newspaper Raises Eyebrows For Off-Brand Message

Those who looked through the Alvin Sun and Advertiser with a keen eye on Wednesday noticed that an advertisement on page 12 read, “Merry Christmas from Walmart. Save money. Screw people over.” The small advertisement was among 20 other adverts, mainly for small businesses, Click2Houston.com writes.

Over on the KPRC2 Facebook page, readers had their own theories and thoughts about the advertising glitch. Jeffrey Savelle speculated, “This is a definite sign of an ex disgruntled employee. Walmart just laid about 19 people off in Pearland 2 weeks before Christmas. Walmart is a very politically correct store and would never use the phrase ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS’ hence the ad. This is an ex employee just giving back what was given.” And Wendy Johnson wrote, “I just talked to the manager actually walking around in Wal-Mart tonight. Poor guy says there is nothing he can do to stop the distribution because the Alvin Sun is closed.”

But David Rupkalvos, publisher and editor of the Alvin Sun and Advertiser, told Click2Houston.com that the mistake was a simple one. The person who put together the advertisement page pulled the ad from a Google search and didn’t fully read it. Since the graphic fit perfectly and had the correct logo and appeared to be from Walmart, they simply didn’t notice that the ad was a fake. The Alvin Sun and Advertiser apologized for the mistake.