Overheard: Street Chic

Overheard on NPR this morning about how Wal-Mart is inserting ads into upscale magazines - in the middle of adverts selling clothing acoutrements that can add up to hundreds of dollars (coat $375, pants $250, scarf $800, etc) there is a Wal-Mart ad (pants $18, poncho $12).

NPR interviewed a fashion expert, someone who supposedly writes a column for Good Housekeeping and several years ago wrote an article entitled something similar to "Street Wise Chic" (. . . sorry, sometimes I'm a little scant on details,) but who proponed that the crafty wisdom behind these ads is that the audience that Wal-Mart is courting essentially consists of people who normally shop at Miss Jacksons and occasionally like to "slum" and buy "street chic" at Wal-Mart or K-Mart.

I take the opposite view. I strongly believe that the majority of people who read those magazines are NOT the riche/chic/whatever, but actually regular average below-middle-class women who for the few moments spent looking that the ads they can actually engage in a fantasy that they can afford to buy such clothes. Then BAM! there it is! - an ad from Wal-Mart with an ensemble that both A) resembles the higher priced clothes and B) is within range.

Wal-Mart isn't courting the wealthy. Never has. Wal-Mart is merely reaching out to the same clientele it's always sought: the average joe (or josephine), who in this case is dreaming of a little higher class of living than they currently enjoy.

Devlishly clever, I might add. Now, if only Wal-Mart could bring the quality of its clothing up to the standards of quality of its advertising, then we could REALLY begin to talk serious biz!