Wal-Mart Protesters Disrupt Marissa Mayer On Stage But Marc Benioff Has The Last Laugh
Business Insider/Julie Bort screen shot
A small group of women interrupted Marissa Mayer’s crowded conference session at Salesforce.com's Dreamforce conference on Tuesday evening.
Mayer was minutes into an on-stage conversation with Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff when protesters approached the stage from the back of the auditorium, chanting.
They were protesting worker conditions at Wal-Mart. Although the room heard them yelling, most of the crowd couldn't hear what they were saying. As one attendee, Peter Roper (@pete_arrr) tweeted, "Protesters shouting 'something something revolution' interrupting Benioff/Mayer chat."
The protest lasted about a minute before protesters were escorted out of the Moscone Centre. They were heard arguing loudly with Salesforce staff outside of the conference hall shortly afterwards.
Marissa Mayer is a director of Wal-Mart, and she said on stage that's what she thought the protest was about. Wal-Mart has made headlines in recent months for reportedly paying nearly two-thirds of its workers less than $25,000 a year.
One Walmart store in Ohio is reportedly holding a charity drive for staff who are otherwise unable to afford enough food for Thanksgiving.
But Benioff and Mayer had the last laugh after the protesters were removed. The two were talking about the importance of product design when they were interrupted.
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 slpit 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."
Liz Tay , Business Insider Australia, contributed to this story.
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