Wal-Mart: buy Chinese. live smarter.

Wal-Mart's aspirational television commercials, showing people who are unlikely to shop at Wal-Mart, living in homes that are unlikely to be owned by Wal-Mart shoppers have actually attracted shoppers who are unlikely to shop at Wal-Mart.

According to te HomeScan division of AC Nielsen:
Who’s the fastest-growing Wal-Mart demographic? Shoppers making more than $70,000 a year, up 12 percent from 2007. “Brand aspirationals,” a younger demographic that cares about name brands and labels, were the focus of Wal-Mart’s promotional strategies through the beginning of 2008, but the company has shifted back to low-price messages.

However, "Forty-two percent of Wal-Mart sales are to customers making less than $40,000 a year."

Although AC Neilsen reports that Wal-Mart has shifted back to a low price message, they are no longer the ham-fisted company that was represented by a yellow-happy-faced-price-slasher. Now they are sending the message with upscale looking shoppers who delight in a good buy as a competitive, I-am-smarter-than-you-are move.

Wal-Mart buys $27 billion directly from China, and lots more indirectly through companies like Mattel. If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be China's 6th largest export country.