WAL MART WEDNESDAY…
October 18th, 2006
It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the Universe’s source of cheap plastic crap. On The Writing On The Wal — the blog USA Today says should be on its readers’ radar — Jonathan Rees, Robert Feinman, Peter Sayles and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.
WAL MART LOSES BREAKS SUIT… The common pleas court in Philadelphia has ruled in Braun v. Wal Mart and Hummel v. Walmart that the comapny forced employees to forgo their legally entitled 15-minute breaks on a regular basis. The fines and damages could reach $169 million for the retailer.. Keep reading…
UNIONS RUN THE TABLE IN CHINA… First there was one, then 19 and now all 62 Wal Mart stores in China are unionized. Now unions in China are different from unions in the western world, but the announcement today will send shock waves through the Bentonvile behemoths structure. Keep reading…
REUSE IS GOOD, BUT… Details are sketchy as to exactly how this happened, but according to KCRG-TV, a woman in Boone, Iowa, has filed suit accusing Wal Mart of pharmaceutical malpractice for printing some of personal medical information… Keep reading…
DO YOU THINK, GEORGE…? How does Edleman, a company ranked number one with nearly three times the annual fees of its nearest competitor produce such a turkey as Wal-Marting Across America? (And did anyone there realize that Walmarting is a perjorative?) Keep reading…
AND FROM THE RV WORLD… The Recreational Vehicle community – which uses the term Wally Docking to describe stopping for the night in a Wal Mart parking lot – knew about Jim and Laura from the start thanks to a letter recieved and posted on 2 October to RV Net: Keep reading…
WALMARTING AND NEW COKE… A COINCIDENCE? Over the years I”ve known and worked with and for a number of public relations firms in major cities across North America. Everyone makes mistakes like New Coke, but I don”t think I”ve ever seen anything as inept as Wal-Marting Across America. Keep reading…
A FREELANCE JOURNALIST”S RESPONSE… Long before I bacame a blogger I was a freelance journalist, a magazine editor and a regular contributor to corporate communications for TRW. I take exception to Laura”s claim that: …now we”re being attacked. Why? Because we dared to write positive things about Wal-Mart. Keep reading…
GO POUND COFFEE GROUNDS… Every Wednesday I assemble a digest of my past week”s post here and publish them on my personal blog Have Coffee Will Write as Wal Mart Wednesday. This week one of my regular readers felt compelled to share a personal Wal Mart story. Keep reading…
WHAT”S REALLY AT STAKE… With all the hoopla over Edelman and Wal-Marting Across America, I thought it was time to check back in at the other Wal Mart astroturf blogs. I took some time this morning to stop in at Working Families For Wal Mart and read What”s At Stake: Keep reading…
AND THE FLOGGING WILL CONTINUE… I”m almost starting to feel badly for Wal Mart and Edelman the way people are piling on the Wal-Marting Across America debacle. (Just kidding.) This morning the New York Post runs the headline: Wal-Mart”s Smarking Over Blog Flogging. Keep reading…
ACCESSING 1.1 BILLION CUSTOMERS… In terms of retail markets India is a mother lode with a population of 1.1 billion potential shoppers and the Bentonvile behemoth wants them all to shop at its big boxes. But that might not happen according to Forbes magazine: Keep reading…
AT THE WALLY PLEX… There are sound stages on Hollywood”s back lots smaller than Bentonvile”s behemoths, so it”s no surprise that budding video talent has been sneaking cameras in at odd hours. And now for the midnight show at the Wally Plex featuring river777. Keep reading…
MORE ON THE SMALL-MART MOVEMENT… I missed this story when it came out, but a reader sent it along and it”s still worth reading because it represents how smart communities can look beyond the big box and not become just another whistle stop on Wal Mart”s revenue railway. From Fortune: Keep reading…
BANKING ON FOR WAL MART… This week the Federal Deposist Insurance Corporation closed the comment period on talks to decide if Wal Mart ought to be allowed to operate it”s own industrial bank. In a 52-page document, Wal Mart said such a move would present no unusual risks or problems. Keep reading…
VERY MIXED SIGNALS… For those readers not familiar with it, Post Secret is a website where people send in postcards illustrating some secret they have that is eating at them. With all the very real troubles in the world, it saddens me to read cards like this. Keep reading…
TRUST MART…? TRUST MART…? What Wal Mart called speculation earlier today USA Today, via The Wall Street Journal, is calling fact: the Bentonvile Behemoth intends to purchase the 100-store Trust Mart chain in China for $1 billion. According to USA Today: Keep reading…
COULD WAL MART BALE ON GAYS…? In a move that may be totally unrelated but yet begs some connection, Wal Mart confirmed that Dee Breazeale has left the company. It most recently named Breazeale as its representative on the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Keep reading…
WAS EDELMAN GOOGLEWASHING…? Here”s an interesting spin. Like McDonaldization, Walmarting is a pejorative referring to the way chains pave over all things special in communities and Seth Finkelstein suggests that the flog (fake blog) may have been intended in part to Googlewash the word. Keep reading…
TOP OF THE FOLD…? As The Writing On The Wal reported yesterday, Wal Mart is buying Trust Mart in China. What I find amazing is that while this is an important story, the paper of record, The New York Times, thinks it”s big enough to play above the fold on page one. Keep reading…
WHEN IS A BANE A BOON…? The Chicago Sun Times has a story this morning that gives a twist to the story of Wal Mart”s entrance into the Chicago market. Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Ganno said building five supercenters on the South side was: almost like a payoff. Keep reading…
ROTFLMAO…! From Gaping Void who writes: My own opinion? Edelman isn”t stupid enough to have let this happen on purpose. Something else is going on. My guess is Walmart pulled a Cleopatra on them and Edelman”s taking the rap. Hat tip to Branding & Marketing who writes: Keep reading…
HEH…! HEH…! So where was Jim and Laura”s lookout? Art by Tony Montana Keep reading…
GOBBLE… GOBBLE… Yes. Turkey. But not the bird. At what point does being a Wal Mart Shopper become the single greatest shared human experience outside of birth and death possibly sex? The Bentonvile Behemoth wants to find out. From Turks: Keep reading…
good morning, Jeff…
thanks for the run-down of all the Wal-Mart stuff. I’ve been following the “flog” thing, and there’s so much going on with it that it’s mind-boggling. Edelman was pushing a boatload of boundaries in a pool where few have put in just their big toe at this point (yes, mixed metaphor, I know, I know.)
Right now, within marketing, there is a lot of “research” going on to see how far the boundary between media and advertising can be blurred. The “flog” as well as YouTube’s “channels” (which are no more than ads that contain ads) are two examples of this, and I’m sure if I thought about it, I could find some more. The ad world is more scared of lost eyeballs than media companies, and in that desperation they are looking for ways to blur the lines and keep their consciences assuaged. It’s what lead the YouTube marketing babe to say that young people don’t mind the ads within ads if the content is “kick ass.”
The next marketer I hear use the term “kick ass content” is going to get…well, I think you know what I mean.
There are only a few things that will halt the blurring–folks who enjoy ferriting out a conspiracy and people’s personal ethics. The latter is, nowadays, up for grabs, so the former is probably our last hope.
Peace,
Tish
Some make the argument that New Coke was not a mistake.
Shalom Tish,
I’m sure you’ve misheard the
flacksmarketerspeddlers. What they’re really saying is kiss ass content.B’shalom,
Jeff
p.s. and by definition, peddlers have no personal ethics, only the ethics that their clients may or may not have.
Shalom Ryan,
I was friends with the managing editor of Beverage Industry magazine when New Coke flopped. She interviewed the CEO of Coca Cola at the time and asked him if the spectacular failure was planned to reinvigorate Classic Coke or if the peddlers just missed the boat. His reply was that:
We are neither that smart nor that stupid.
B’shalom,
Jeff
Jeff,
As I contemplate my future in the military, and wonder what I will do if I was to get out, I like to ponder all my options.
The Wal-Mart in my town is hiring photographers. It seems like a stable opportunity, but then I think about it a little more and I draw the following conclusion:
I would rather be sent to Iraq twice, get shot at, return fire and kill my agressor, be forced apart from my family for nearly a year, than work for any heartless, fat, overgrown, oppressive, friendly Wal-Mart.
Man…I love my job!
Blessed Be this Sacred Journey,
Michael
That’s a good answer.
Shalom Michael,
There are advantages to higher callings.
B’shalom,
Jeff