Wal-Mart advertising on The Pirate Bay

[Jimmy 2004]

For anyone who is unaware, The Pirate Bay is the world's largest BitTorrent tracker - meaning it is a nice illegal haven for many people who pirate films and other media. So although you wouldn't expect a big supermarket firm like Wal-Mart to support such a site, they seem to be quite happy to provide them with an estimated $75,000 each month for advertising space. Apparently users have been seeing adverts by Wal-Mart for a number of DVDs, including "The Sopranos", "Smallville", "Desperate Housewives" and the movie "Office Space." If Wal-Mart honestly thinks many of the people on a site like that are planning on buying their DVDs, it could be a little disappointed. Wal-Mart goes on the list of The Pirate Bay sponsors including Verizon and Australia Bank (although the latter claimed it advertised by "mistake"). Admittedly, not all Torrenting is illegal, but the vast majority is.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Easy Rhino]

i think this is a good strategy. consider how many people hit up piratebay everyday. that is a lot of exposure for walmart. and advertising is more about exposure than it is about selling stuff.

 

[kakazza]

Don't we all just download Linux ISOs? amirite?

 

[cj100570]

Lets get real here; who cares who advertises there? Torrent sites aren't just about downloading illegal content as you pointed out.

 

[magibeg]

Well not that i would know or anything, even if you download a movie and you find out its actually really good... some people would still consider buying the dvd just to have the benifit of ownership.

 

[Jimmy 2004]

Well not that i would know or anything, even if you download a movie and you find out its actually really good... some people would still consider buying the dvd just to have the benifit of ownership.

I see your point, but how many people do you honestly think would actually do that?

There is not much doubt that the majority of torrent downloads are illegal, and TPB borders very closely on being an illegal site - attempts have been made to close it. It's more the fact that generally, reputable businesses like Wal-Mart don't tend to support the more dodgy companies.

 

[cj100570]

I see your point, but how many people do you honestly think would actually do that?

There is not much doubt that the majority of torrent downloads are illegal, and TPB borders very closely on being an illegal site - attempts have been made to close it. It's more the fact that generally, reputable businesses like Wal-Mart don't tend to support the more dodgy companies.

In Sweden where they are based their activities are perfectly legal. Attempts by US interests to have them shut down have been rebuffed on many occasions. Kindly check the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pirate_Bay#Legal_threats_and_actions

 

[evil bill]

I do tend to eventually buy legit copies of the majority of anything I download, although I realise this doesnt make it any less illegal at the time. I just like to have films before the DVD comes out, and to listen to Albums before I buy them to make sure they are any good. I hate buying a CD only to find that the couple of tracks they released as singles are good but the rest is utter crap. Pete Doherty and Babyshambles - Im looking at you right now, terrible album

 

[Fleekar]

I think Isohunt is the biggest, not TPB

 

[Bob The Fish]

I down load tons of anime and i also buy the dvds when they come out, even thou i allmost never watch them becuase of terable dubbing.

 

[SkylinGTR26]

Isohunt is clearly a search engine of torrents.
TPB actually has all of those torrents on servers that they personally host, opposed to isohunt just searching for the torrents...

IMO, who cares, who really cares about public torrents? 1st no one seeds, if you look for something rare, no one seeds, no one cares about you so you get a bunch of spyware and stuff, w.e If you are looking to get some good stuff try private trackers... best stuff, but who am i to advertise...

Wal-mart is just makin business, dosnt matter how you make the money, as long as youve got it

 

[WarEagleAU]

While they may be showing DVDs for sale for legit purposes, the main goal is to showcase the company and brand. (whoever said it a few replies up is right, its about exposure). I f you click it just for information, youll look at other stuff and perhaps buy them.

 

[Mussels]

australia bank? there is no australia bank! its an australiaN bank, nyah.

 

[Deleted member 3]

Don't we all just download Linux ISOs? amirite?

I don't, and if I do I use FTP/HTTP.