Tom Cruise: Wal-Mart A ‘Role Model’ That ‘Improves Women’s Lives’

He said what? Actor Tom Cruise has become an unlikely PR man for megastore conglomerate Wal-Mart, calling the company a “role model” and applauding it for “improving women’s lives.” Let’s reserve judgment until we understand exactly what he’s saying here.

The actor raised a few eyebrows with a speech given at Wal-Mart’s shareholder meeting on Friday. ”I’ve wanted to come here for quite some time, actually, because the culture you have here is like no other,” he said.

“I truly admire your company. [It's] a role model for how business can address some of the biggest issues facing our world.”

The celeb-heavy event was also attended by Hugh Jackman and included performances by Kelly Clarkson, John Legend, and Jennifer Hudson.

But it was Cruise’s speech that got media publications and Twitter users swirling, with many seething over the company’s questionable pay practices and its refusal to guarantee safety for workers making garments in its various factories all over the world.

www.inquisitr.com/699440/tom-cruise-wal-mart-role-model/




Is $60 million per movie not enough, Tom? I though you'd had your teeth fixed already.

"If you're a scientologist and you drive by an accident it's not like anyone else". Oh, really, Tom, why not? "Because you know you have to do something about it. You know you're the only one that can really help."

I understand that these people have huge egos and love being the centre of attention, but it's just very hard for me to understand how someone with that kind of money could agree to this. I mean, obviously they don't believe a word that they're saying, and Walmart can't have paid them that much. It can't have been more than a couple of million, surely. What is the point? Every time I see Robin Jackman now, I will just think Walmart-whore.

It's particularly hypocritical for Mr. Cruise, though:



"If you're a scientologist and you drive by an accident it's not like anyone else". Oh, really, Tom, why not? "Because you know you have to do something about it. You know you're the only one that can really help."

Pity that didn't include clips from the ads that Dennis Leary has done.

Fucking Hicks wannabe sold out years ago.

18 February 2003

By PETER WATT

Your mission, Tom Cruise, should you choose to accept it, is to fix that flatty.

Yes, Tom Cruise can change a tyre but, incredibly, it wasn't even his own.

When New Plymouth couple Anne and Eifion Williams' car slumped to a halt just west of Oakura a few days ago, they and their two boys, Rhys (9) and Rhodri (8), piled out to start the roadside chore.

But a few moments later a trio of four-wheel-drive vehicles pulled up and out of one stepped the Hollywood superstar, who offered to help.

The family stood gobsmacked as Cruise was joined by another American on The Last Samurai film project, then partner and fellow screen star Penelope Cruz, Cruise's children Connor and Isabella, and finally his sister.

While Tom and his movie mate set to work on the wheel, the groups chatted about their day – the Cruise convoy had been to the beach – and generally got to know each other, with Rhys and Rhodri hitting it off with the Cruise kids.

Anne admits she was star struck, while her husband had trouble getting any words out, what with his jaw almost touching the tarmac as Hollywood's highest-paid actor played handyman on his behalf.

The Williams had a camera, but in what seems typical Taranaki style, chose not to use it for the photo opportunity of a lifetime.

"It just seemed like it would have invaded his privacy," said Anne. "Especially as he had his children with him, but we did get his autograph."

I should hope he can change a pigging tyre! It's not difficult.

There are actors whose work I admire, and those I find physically attractive and/or charasmatic, but I find this attitude of some folk, whereby they view 'celebrities' as demi-gods completely incomprehensible.

It's nice that he helped someone. It's not gob-smackingly astounding - he's just a bloke who learns lines & pretends to be someone else in front of a camera for a living.

Just because he's read some lines, in exchange for money, for Walmart, why should people let that influence their views on the company in any way. In fact, if I worked for them, I'd be bloody annoyed that they'd been prepared to pay his fee for doing a brief stint, while they paid me a measley hand-full of coins for doing a day's graft.

It's nice that he helped someone.