Walmart wants to be your "save-our"

This morning, Walmart stocks opened $5 lower than they had closed the night before.  No big suprise after every the hairy Christmas season, job losses, and a woeful outlook for 2009.  Commentators on CNBC's Squak Box made mention of the fact that people are now buying just straight necessities.  Again - no big surprise!

But now, Walmart, is advertising in new ways that make me tend to think they want to be our save-ours!   Because they know that Americans are cutting back on everything, they are now focussing only on what Americans have to buy or what they just simply cannot cut out of their lives in one way or another.

It all started last month with the Christmas Party theme.  Shoppers were supposed to go to Walmart to buy their gifts for the party, their attire for the party, and the food for the party.

This month, Walmart started an ad for the Football party theme.  Plates of Chips and Dip piled high with cold-cut sandwiches on the side.  They had a large screen tv in the commercial, so I'm assuming that was supposed to be something that needed to be bought at walmart as well.

Today, I saw an ad for Walmart about dieting.  The woman wants to take the Special-K Challenge and can do so by buying her cereal at Walmart.  I also saw an ad for a coffee pot.  Walmart says buying the coffee pot and coffee at Walmart will save over $400 a year when stacked up agains going to the local coffee shop (lets all just call it what it is - Starbucks!).

This new trend is definitely different than the old "Rollback" commercials but in a way, they are quite sad.  First, it means that we probably are going to be a Walmart Nation even more than we already are.  Secondly, Walmart is going to prove how ridiculously many of us lived and how much money we wasted on frills that could have been handled in a much simpler and more frugal way!

I think Walmart should open up a "We'll save you" hotline and allow shoppers to call in for their suggestions of alternative ways to live their lives on a Walmart budget. 

How do you feel about that?