Business

Marissa Mayer Got Interrupted By Wal-Mart Protesters

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who also occupies a position on Walmart's board, was interrupted by protesters at an event on Thursday night, criticized for her role with the gigantic retail chain.

By Brian Feldman
This article is from the archive of our partner .

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who also occupies a position on Walmart's board, was interrupted by protesters at an event on Thursday night, criticized for her role with the gigantic retail chain.

The company—which, as we've already covered, held a Thanksgiving food drive for its own workers this week and then released this video defending it—was being criticized by the protesters for poor working conditions and the firing of around 80 workers.

The protesters also carried a sign that said had a picture of Mayer and a thought bubble that read "Why did I join Walmart's board?"

The protesters were removed from the auditorium quickly, and then Mayer and her partner onstage, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, used the incident to transition quickly back to their previous discussion about design. From Business Insider:

Benioff is famous for disruptive gorilla marketing at competitors' conferences during Salesforce.com's early days, and couldn't help himself but to comment:

"We don't want any more protests ... but if you want to protest, No. 1, you can do it outside. No. 2, it's better to split up when you start. Then when those people get arrested, then a second group stands up. Then a third ... I'm just saying."

The audience laughed and Mayer said, "That's a design problem right there."

More than half of Walmart's hourly workforce makes less than $25,000 per year. Is that a design problem?

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.