My Walmart commercial

A few months ago our Relief Society president was on a local Walmart commercial. She said that if anyone wanted to do it they were looking for more Albuquerque moms and she'd give them our numbers. It's a price comparison and they give you money to shop and you also get a gift card. I gave her my name and they called a few weeks later to interview. I met the producer and her cameraman at a Starbucks and they recorded our short interview. They asked me a few questions like where I shopped, if I use coupons, and what makes my daughter laugh. She told me they shoot commercials all the time and the next one was the middle of March and asked if I would be available, I said yes. I got a call on March 17 that they wanted me as an "alternate mom" for the shoot on March 19. Basically, if either "shopping mom" didn't show they would call me in. I was on call from about 8-11 until they called and said I didn't need to come in. They said because I was an alternate that the next time they shoot I would be moved to the top of the list to shop.

They called back the 1st week of April when I was in Utah and asked if I was available the 9th. I told them I would be on vacation so they said they'd call back. On my birthday they called and asked if I was available on the 23rd, finally I was. They went over a few details with me and then the producer called me the Sunday before to talk some more.We met at 7:45 Tuesday morning at Starbucks with both producers. The other shopping mom was actually Chris Bushman, a lady in our ward. They gave us an envelope with $250 to spend shopping at Albertsons. They told us to limit our shopping to about 40 items. We were supposed to buy what we normally would; however, they could only compare the items that Walmart carried. so, produce, meat, and generic brands wouldn't count. I had two trainees shop with me and one of the producers went with Chris. I had my grocery list already prepared so it didn't take long. They had a clicker and would count every item I put in my cart. I ended up with about 43 items and my total was $220. Chris said she spent less than $100 so I kind of figured I would be the one on the commercial.

Next, we drove to Walmart and took all our groceries inside. They had us go in the back while they did their accounting and price comparison. They had a scanner that told them whether Walmart carried that particular item or not. The process took about an hour. Meanwhile we got hair and makeup and snacks and a tour and just chatted with the crew while we waited. Around 10:30 the producer came in and said I was going to be in the commercial and they sent Chris home. I got miked up and just as we were going to shoot the first item she came and told us there was a situation and we needed to wait a bit. Later I found out that the situation was that I had saved so much money that they were worried it would look unbelievable so they called in another mom to shop. We kept shooting just in case they could go with mine. They didn't tell me how much I had saved total or on each item until they shot it because they wanted my true reaction on film. We did 5 or 6 takes for each item and we filmed 5 items plus a bunch of extra stuff at the check out and just walking around the store and my interview. It was a lot of fun and the guy doing the commercial was great and made me laugh a lot.

We had lunch break at 1:00 and that's when they got the go ahead to continue shooting and airing my commercial.  The other mom did come in and shop and they just sent her home with her groceries. We wrapped around 3:00. I got my groceries and they gave me a $250 Walmart gift card. It was a cool experience and crazy to see my commercial a few days later. They ended up comparing 27 items and I saved $33.66. I really do shop at Albertsons for my groceries. Walmart is closer, but I just hate going there. It was really eye opening to see how much I can save each week though. The commercial only shows 3 of the items we actually shot. Chris and I both got compensated the same, but I just got the commercial too. It's funny because I'm the 3rd one in our ward that's been on these commercials. I don't know how much longer they're going to do them in our area.

Here's the link to the video:
http://walmarturl.com/14evCpD