news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060106/ap_on_bi_ge/wal_mart_web_site
AP Wal-Mart Halts Movie Suggestions on Web By MARCUS KABEL, Associated Press Writer Fri Jan 6, 6:25 AM ET Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is shutting down the system that creates movie recommendations on its shopping Web site after it linked a "Planet of the Apes" DVD to films about famous black Americans, including Martin Luther King Jr.
com page advertising a boxed DVD set, "Planet of the Apes: The Complete TV Series." Under a "similar items" section, the DVD set's page linked shoppers to four films about the lives of King, actress Dorothy Dandridge, boxer Jack Johnson and singer Tina Turner. Wal-Mart later altered the page to link with television show DVDs. The world's largest retailer said the software that generates links for shoppers from one movie to others of similar interest would be shut down. All cross references would be removed as soon as technically possible until the system can be fixed, Wal-Mart said. Wal-Mart moved swiftly after a link to the page for "Planet of the Apes" began circulating on the Internet. "We are heartsick that this happened and are currently doing everything possible to correct the problem," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams said in a statement. com's item mapping process does not work correctly and at this point is mapping seemingly random combinations of titles. We were horrified to discover that some hurtful and offensive combinations are being mapped together," she said, adding that the company was "deeply sorry that this happened." "To further illustrate the bizarre nature of this technical issue, the site is also mapping movies such as Home Alone' and Power Puff Girls' to African-American-themed DVDs," Williams said. A documentary about surfers, "Riding Giants," links to the same list of seemingly unrelated fantasy films as the King biopic, including "Polar Express" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
Shoppers exit a Wal-Mart store in Casselberry, Florida June 22, 2004. Public relations experts say Wal-Mart risked angering investors when it wrote a spoof song about what proved to be a disappointing holiday season.
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