Areisha's Reading Response 2-Wal Mart Commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJHWJHYH_bk

In the commercial I chose it pictures a young teenage girl on her first day of junior high or high school. As the commercial starts out it shows her in the school hallway with books in her arms and a lost look on her face. She's young, pretty and fresh-faced, dressed in a yellow blouse and new jeans. A woman's voice chimes in in the background as the girl approaches the school cafeteria. The woman, who is obviously the girl's mother, talks about how she can't go to school with her daughter or introduce her to new friends. While speaking she comes into the scene, standing in the hallway while students bustle around in the background. She says she can't help her daughter make friends as the girl timidly draws near a table where three or four girls her age are sitting eating lunch. The girl asks if she can sit down, and one of the girls at the table says sure. This new girl tells the main girl that she likes her shirt, and she replies with a bright "Thank you!" She sits, the rest of the girls beaming up at her. Already we can deduce that all these girls are going to be great friends, maybe all the way through their academic careers. As they chat, the mom comes back into the picture, continuing on about how she can't tell everyone how amazing her daughter is. The daughter in question is pictured in the bathroom, adjusting her pretty yellow blouse and giving herself a small smile in the mirror. It's clear that she likes the clothes she's wearing, especially the shirt which may just have won her her new friends. Her mother's voice in the background says that she can give her daughter what she needs to feel good about herself without breaking her budget. The commercial moves on to show the young girl walking down the hall, laughing and talking with the girls she had just met. Up until that point the music playing softly in the background was mellow and slow. Now, as we reach the point of the commercial it quickens. The mother says that that is why she shops at Wal Mart. It draws to an end with the girls sitting together on a bus, the mother in the seat behind them, saying all her daughter needs to do is be herself. The commercial ends with the girl and her new friends modeling brands of clothing that can be bought at Wal Mart, such as L.E.I. and OP. A new woman's voice in the background tells viewers to give their children the brands they love at low prices. A Wal Mart emblem flashes onto the screen, telling viewers to save money and live better. The cultural myth this commercial is trying to tell is that Wal Mart has cheaper prices than any other stores, and that parents can send their children back to school in style without emptying their bank accounts. It is a myth because although Wal Mart is cheap it does not mean it's the cheapest place to buy clothing.