People of Walmart (PoW) is an entertainment

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

featuring user-submitted

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Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

customers considered to be socially awkward or undesirable by users of the site. PoW has been promoted largely on sites like

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and

Funny or Die Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a reg ...

, and linked on

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and

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. People of Walmart was founded in 2009 by brothers Andrew and Adam Kipple, and their friend Luke Wherry.

History

The website was founded in August 2009 after three men in their 20s—Andrew Kipple, his brother Adam, and their friend Luke Wherry—noticed at a

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

Walmart a woman who looked like a stripper to them in a T-shirt that read "go f*** yourself" with a two-year-old in a harness and a man with a beard reminiscent of those worn by

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sound ...

. They created the website to share what they find truly remarkable, ignoring more stereotypical "

redneck ''Redneck'' is a derogatory term chiefly, but not exclusively, applied to white Americans perceived to be crass and unsophisticated, closely associated with rural whites of the Southern United States.Harold Wentworth, and Stuart Berg Flexner, '' ...

s" or mullets. While they created the site for their own social circle, it immediately went viral, enabling Wherry and Adam Kipple to leave their prior jobs. Andrew Kipple is a student. Walmart has not commented. In addition to avoiding the ordinary, the trio refuse to post photos of people who are

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

or working Walmart employees. The site has given rise to various other similar websites, some with variations on the theme.

Site features

The People of Walmart site is divided into tabs including photos (broken up into newest, top rated, by state, and random), stories (love letters and hate mail), videos, and a submit section. Users have the ability to rate the photos that are posted. There is also a store where items such as tee shirts, mugs, and sweatshirts can be purchased with the People of Walmart logo. According to the website, People of Walmart is a member of Three Ring Blogs, which includes blogs like “That’s my boss,” “dumbtweets,” “Girls in yoga pants,” and “How I was dumped." Three Ring Blogs is a network of blogs where people can post anonymous content, most of which has a humorous focus.

Backlash

Walmart spokesman David Tovar declined to comment saying in an e-mail that it "doesn't seem like it's news that there's a website that allows people to post photos on it". A woman named Melanie Wheeler was extremely upset when she found her mother's embarrassing image on the site accompanied by the caption, "A member of the Canadian division of the Trench Coat Mafia." They contacted the press to express their disgust in the website and how they had felt violated. However, the People of Walmart FAQ states that if a user finds that they are unwillingly shown in a picture, "Simply email us and we will take it down, no problem. If you like your photo but hate the caption or comment send us an email and we can remove it."

Social media

People of Walmart has a Facebook and Twitter account. There are also iPhone and

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applications that allow pictures to be uploaded to the site from a mobile device. In 2017, they announced the launch of a People of Walmart App for Android and iOS that allows anyone to post pictures what they found in Walmart, then show it on the app.

References

External links

* {{Walmart American blogs American comedy websites Internet properties established in 2009 Photoblogs Walmart American photography websites