Walmart in Harriman Pandering to the Interests of the Ultra-Orthodox
The above pictures were sent to us with the following comment:
These were taken at the Walmart in Harriman, NY, which is a short distance from Kiryas Joel. The Hasidim felt that the Danskin display was immodest, so they had the store cover the women up. They used laminated paper. Apparently a few of the sheets fell off, or they didn’t have enough to start with. These were taken on 5/27/16.
We invite you to come to your own conclusions or comments regarding both the pictures and the comments. The people at Walmart had no comments.
We find it rather disturbing that a public company, owned by one of the wealthiest families in the country, could pander to the interests of a small community, except perhaps if that community who can be seen frequenting that store, threatened to boycott.
Where will they have enough influence to yield such a result next, Woodbury Commons?
LOSTMESSIAH 
Similarly, in towns around Hasidic/ ultra-orthodox Lakewood NJ, any magazines with women on the covers (not only Cosmopolitan, but also People, Us, Women’s world, etc) are now covered in grocery stores and BJ’s because a small part of the customers are offended by them.
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Why were they looking at scantily clad female genitalia in the first place? Now all they have to look at is female faces and imagine the scantily clad genitalia.
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Wal-mart is in the business of making money. Covering up pictures of women in underwear will increase their business from the Chasidim without affecting the rest of its customer basis, therefore this is a very sensible decision.
Where problems would begin is if the Chasidim start demanding that ALL Wal-marts start doing the same thing but they haven’t done that yet.
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@Garnel Ironheart – you have a great blog. Thanks for your comments. If you have other information, we would be grateful. As to the issue with Walmart, it is good business practice but where do you draw the line. Harriman is a fair distance from KJ. We think it is a slippery slope once you start changing stores’ advertising, then you change what you will or will not carry within the store, then you change how the people in the store must dress, where does it end? Just a thought.
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So yes those are all excellent points. I would suggest that the line is the source of the choice. If it’s a bunch of Chasidim showing up and threatening to picket or vandalize the store if it doesn’t make the changes that they demand then a line has been crossed. On the other hand, if it’s a bunch of managers and planners saying “Hey, there’s this really big group of consumers near here and all we have to do is make a few adjustments that most everyone else won’t even notice and we’ll get their business!” then it’s simply good sense.
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Good points. But lets turn this around and say that the ad featured Chassidic men but others in Harriman are offended by fur hats altogether and especially in the summer and they demanded that any pictures of fur hats be covered. Would that b the same thing or is that anti-semitism? What if you say its OK but then wearing fur hats in their store is no longer allowed creating a hardship for Chassidim who want to shop Saturday night…
The bottom line is that if you dress in a way that offends other people (i.e. expensive fur hats when on welfare) you are treading on thin ice in demanding that others meet any standard of dress whatsoever.
I honestly don’t see the difference between too modest or too immodest. They are both offensive. Just as I think it is offensive to see women covering every inch of their body in a tent at a supermarket, I think it is offensive to see a woman in a bikini in a supermarket. But I wouldnt suggest hat I have the right to tell anyone else what to wear…that would definitely open the door for them to come and tell me..
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The problem is where does this end. Can the community insist Walmart not sell pork in its stores? Or romance novels? I wonder if the stores in the Bible Belt conduct the same practices for the religious fundamentalists.
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Funny thing that pondering of yours. We called some of those stores and researched. A few particular titles were removed from Walmart shelves but that is the extent of it.
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Let’s say it’s a Wal-mart in a heavily Muslim part of town. Local Muslim leaders say that they will encourage their followers to shop elsewhere if Wal-mart doesn’t pull their pork products but that cooperation will result in them encouraging their followers to shop there.
Wal-mart isn’t in business to defend the free world, it’s in business to make money. If they determine that they’ll make more money by pulling pork because more new Muslim customers will patronize the store than non-Muslim customers who will not shop there then they’ll pull the pork. Simple business.
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Honestly – of all the whacko things are haredi brothers do, this one is the least annoying – and the fact that WallMart accommodates their client base……..that’s just good business.
I haven’t been personally turned on by underware ads since puberty, but…….ok
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