In an effort to make some cash to pay for hosting and what-not, I belong to some affiliate programs that allow me to place ads on this site and hopefully make some spare change here and there. Recently, I applied to run some Wal-Mart ads on the site. I mean, who doesn’t love Wal-Mart right? Upon applying, I was told that my site would be reviewed and that I would be notified of my acceptance or rejection shortly. Standard procedure.

Twenty-four hours later I was denied. And received the following note:

Dear Andrew Teman,

Thank you for submitting your application to the Wal-Mart.com Affiliate Program. We appreciate your interest in our program.

Wal-Mart.com carefully reviews each application to our program. Unfortunately, we do not feel that your Web site meets the criteria we have established for acceptance. At this time Wal-Mart.com is looking for affiliates with high traffic sites that have the potential for high sales volume. In addition, Wal-Mart.com will not accept into its affiliate program sites that fit the following descriptions:

*Promote sexually explicit material
*Promote violence or hate toward any persons or groups
*Promote illegal activities
*Promote alcohol, tobacco, gambling/lottery in any way
*Promote the use of pyramid or similar investment schemes
*Include “walmart”, “wal-mart” or variations or misspellings thereof in their domain names
*Violate intellectual property rights of Wal-Mart.com, Wal-Mart Stores
*Disparage Walmart.com, Wal-Mart Stores or their suppliers
*Are under construction or not live at the time of application
*Require a username and password to access
*Are non-US based or are sites that primarily serve a non-US based audience
*Any other reason based on Wal-Mart’s sole judgment.

Sincerely,
The Wal-Mart.com Affiliate Team

Aside from being horribly disappointed, I was confused as to why Wal-Mart didn’t want my site in it’s network. As I read down the list, I seemed to not be in violation of what usually gets one rejected (sexual content, site down, illegal content, etc). Then it struck me. Disparage Walmart.com, Wal-Mart Stores or their suppliers. That’s the one. That’s the deal killer. Apparently they had actually visited the site and did not appreciate my appreciation for their “No Diggity” ad. Shame on them for not seeing past the sarcasm and realizing that it is actually one of my favorite ads. Hell, that was the ad that pushed me to pay for the download at Ad-Rag.

Oh well, at least Target took me…maybe because of the same posting.