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War-Mart. Not only is politics retail, but now retail is politics, too -- as Wal-Mart hires Ronald Reagan P.R. guru Michael Deaver and sets up a "war room" to enable "rapid-response" to its critics, as reported by Michael Barbaro in The New York Times. Wal-Mart doesn't refer to its newly founded P.R. nerve center as a "war room," of course. The "old conference room on the second floor" of Wal-Mart's Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters is instead known as "Action Alley" -- named in honor of "the wide circular aisle that runs around its stores." But the room is populated by none other than Edelman-employed veterans of both the Kerry and Bush campaign teams, who are well versed in the art of monitoring the opposition and trying to "neutralize criticism before it is leveled." Some of their work is focused on a pair of small, Beltway-based, guerilla-style activist groups, Wal-Mart Watch and Wake-Up Wal-Mart.
For example, Wake-Up Wal-Mart, which happens to be run by a former Kerry campaign director, managed to persuade "members of the nation's largest teachers' unions" to "stage a boycott of Wal-Mart for back-to-school supplies." Wal-Mart Watch, run by a former Howard Dean director, has "set up an automated phone system that called 10,000 people in Arkansas in June seeking potential whistle-blowers willing to share secrets about the retailer." Looming largest of all, perhaps, is the pending release of a low-budget film called: "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices," which is set to open in "about two dozen theaters" and then expand its run via "thousands of homes and churches in the next month." That has Wal-Mart seeing shades of Michael Moore's "Roger & Me" and the retailer is already seeking to discredit the film by claiming it contains "factual errors."
Wal-Mart is also releasing a film of its own, called "Why Wal-Mart Works & Why That Makes Some People Crazy." However, Wal-Mart's goal is not to try to win over its critics, but rather to prevent "consumers who have not soured on Wal-Mart" from defecting. These consumers are, in effect, "swing voters," and profile as "middle-income Americans motivated not just by price but by image." Wal-Mart is right to be concerned. According to a "confidential 2004 report by McKinsey & Company, "two percent to eight percent of Wal-Mart consumers ... have ceased shopping at the chain because of 'negative press they have heard.'" Meanwhile, Wal-Mart's stock price "has fallen 27 percent since 2000," and its sales growth lags Target's. So, what would the late Sam Walton think of "Action Alley"? He probably wouldn't like it. According to this article, portraying his stores "as more worker-friendly and environmentally conscious" ran counter to his philosophy, and besides, he believed "that public relations was a waste of time and money."
Tim Manners
editor
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©2005 reveries.com |
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