1. Introduction (00:00 -
01:03) Hey! Be sure to listen to the MP3 which can be accessed above. You
may need to click to activate the ActiveX control. In the margins are some
updates and notes to the original production soundtrack (recorded in
1998). The script is not here but may appear on the Resources page. |
WORLD'S WORST
HOME
NEWS
TALE OF TWO BANNERS
TEST PAGE
EARLY SUPERMARKET PAGE
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2. The Consumer: A New Kind of Hunter
Gatherer in a World of Commodities (01:04 - 03:57) |
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3. Piggly Wiggly and Beyond: The Evolution
of the Self Service Supermarket (03:58 - 7:25) |
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4. Shopping is a Pleasure!
(Musical Break) (07:26 - 7:49) |
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5. The Shopping Cart (07:50 -
09:39) This section also appears as a YouTube video on the TV page. This
is a holdover from the original video. Sylvan Goldman's invention was
really the "nesting" shopping cart, allowing the carts to fit together,
thus valuable floor space was saved. The childeren's cart has been around
since the 1950s. Check out the Resources page and TV page for more on the
shopping cart. |
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6. Self Service: Consumer as Laborer
(9:40 - 10:54) Since this was recorded in 1998, the self service
checkout has become widespread- at Home Depot, and at "rough"
supermarkets, the ones that emphasize a feeling of "savings" |
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7. Frozen Food and Produce (10:55 -
13:08) It's really "irradiation". Check out the Resources page for some
more detail into all of this. Frozen food seems to have taken a hit in the
past ten years with an emphasis on "freshness". But again, how did all
this stuff get to the supermarket? |
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8. "Nature" vs.
Technology and the Symbolic World of
Packages (13:09 - 15:20)
This still seems to hold up pretty well
after ten years, although the cereals don't promise the eight essential
vitamins so much anymore. Check out the Resources page for a link to info
about the future of the banana, pictured here. |
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9. Check it out (15:21 - 16:52)
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10. Mini-marts and specialty stores
(16:53 - 17:45) 2008 update: Well, it's somewhat the same today as when
this was recorded, but the Hindi videos you can probably get online now
(or on cable or satellite provider) and the basmati rice can be had at
just about any supermarket. But there are still plenty of symbolic rewards
for shopping at ethnic or specialty stores. |
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11. Regional chains and community based
markets (17:46 - 18:47) What isn't specifically mentioned here
are cooperatives and farmers markets, which are very popular, at least as
an "idea" among certain segments of the American population. Also, major
"health food" supermarkets like Whole Foods and Wild Oats have staked out
a big claim to the supermarket market in the past ten years. These can
best be seen as "smooth" supermarkets which promise an upscale commodified
shopping experience that appears on the surface to be "eco-friendly" or
"health conscious". |
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12. Big Business / Hypermarkets
(18:48 - 21:14) Is Wal-Mart SuperCenter really a hypermarket? Not exactly.
Wal-Mart's original foray into this French invention was "Hypermart USA"
in the early 1990s. It was bigger than the current SuperCenters, which
pale in a size to a typical Carrefour. The hypermarket is expanding
rapidly into developing countries, although two Philadelphia area
Carrefour stores quickly failed in the 1990s in the U.S. Check out the TV
page for global examples of Carrefour. |
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13. The Future (21:15 - 23:09)
Needless to say, there have been many new developments since this was
recorded. Check out the Resources page for more details. |
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14. Original Closing Credits (Musical
Break) (23:10 - 25:31) Photo collected from the Internet:
Pennsylvania ShopRite, April 2008. |
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