A New Weapon for Wal-Mart: A War Room

[NashVegas]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/01/business/01walmart.html

A scene from a campaign war room? Well, sort of. It is a war room inside the headquarters of Wal-Mart, the giant discount retailer that hopes to sell a new, improved image to reluctant consumers.

Wal-Mart is taking a page from the modern political playbook. Under fire from well-organized opponents who have hammered the retailer with criticisms of its wages, health insurance and treatment of workers, Wal-Mart has quietly recruited former presidential advisers, including Michael K. Deaver, who was Ronald Reagan's image-meister, and Leslie Dach, one of Bill Clinton's media consultants, to set up a rapid-response public relations team in Arkansas.

When small-business owners or union officials - also employing political operatives from past campaigns - criticize the company, the war room swings into action with press releases, phone calls to reporters and instant Web postings.
...

The first big challenge of the strategy will come Nov. 1 with the premiere of an unflattering documentary. "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" was made on a shoestring budget of $1.8 million and will be released in about two dozen theaters. But its director, Robert Greenwald, hopes to show the movie in thousands of homes and churches in the next month. The possibility that it might become a cult hit like Michael Moore's 1989 unsympathetic portrait of General Motors, "Roger & Me," has Wal-Mart worried.

I can't wait to see if they're going to try to target DU and tell us what a great place Wal-Mart is when this movie comes out.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Please, they already do

[NashVegas]

3. Really? I Guess I Missed It

Must've tuned it out.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. They're not as numerous as, say, the "Chavez is a dictator" bunch...

...or the Punishist Posse. But they do show up with striking predictability whenever a thread critical of Wal-Mart shows up.

I'm surprised it hasn't happened here already.

Edit: my bet is post #35. What's yours?

[GrumpyGreg]

2. Now that's a movie I want to see. Walmart sucks!!!!!!

[DemInDistress]

4. Can a boycott against Wal-mart accomplish

anything,my guess is if 95% of Americans stop shopping at Big Boxmart
for 1 week,2 weeks or more we would have an impact.That means gopers
would have to participate.Think back to the "Do Not Call" telephone list last year.Our Congress in 5 days passed a law.I would support any
effort by the masses if we joined together to take down one GIANT at a time...just a thought !!

[mestup]

5. Robert Greenwald's Blog

http://www.robertgreenwald.org/

Also links to info about the Wal-Mart movie.

Vulnerable Senate Seats by State
http://www.removerepublicans.com
Vulnerable House Seats by State
http://www.ourcongress.org/

[Cha]

6. Fuck you, walmart.

I have better places to spend my money.

[Nomen Tuum]

7. GO COSTCO!

Send Wal Mart a Message--Deal with Costco

http://www.costco.com/

[WCGreen]

11. But But where will I get my trinkets!!!!!

:sarcasm:

[bluestateguy]

8. Of course

They could spend all that money that are now spending on PR on actually improving life for their workers.

[stevietheman]

9. Perhaps the public should start its own "virtual war room"...

to not only criticize Wal*Mart, but perhaps even to do things that destroy it. If they are going to play the PR game to mask their mean-spirited behavior, that simply proves they are a degenerate corporation that no longer deserves existence.

[Moosepoop]

10. I can't wait to see CNN's Situation Room

reporting on Wal-Mart's War Room... :eyes:

[brainshrub]

13. I can't wait for the mo-fos to try to troll on DU!

The mods will toy with them like a cat tortures a mouse.

I've been a mod before, it's fun to torture the trolls.

[tanyev]

14. Everybody go to Wal-Mart after the DVD comes out

and ask if they have it in stock!

[NashVegas]

23. Oh That's Evil

But if it becomes a hit, I'm sure they'll stock it.

[tanyev]

24. I think they've already announced that they will not be carrying it.

That's what makes the project so fun. Better yet, buy several copies of the DVD, smuggle them IN to Wal-Mart, and leave a couple in the DVD display. Imagine the mayhem when someone tries to buy it and the cash register won't scan it and a manager has to be called.

:evilgrin:

[TygrBright]

15. What is the point....

...of spending tons of cash trying to hide, rationalize, obfuscate, sell, and otherwise justify their horrific business practices, rather than putting the same amount of cash into cleaning up their act and doing things right?

It ALWAYS costs more in the long run to keep trying to do things the "easy" or the "cheap" way, because you have to keep DOING IT OVER, trying new tactics, putting on another patch, tying another knot in the string, etc. Cheaper to just do it right.

If I were an investor, these people wouldn't get a dime of my money. Sure, they might pay a 2-cent dividend next week, but by ten years from now, the dime would still be worth a frickin' dime. Put a dime into a company that does things RIGHT and you may not get a few fat dividend payments, but eventually that dime turns into fifteen cents or even twenty.

And if *I* can "get" that, what is wrong with these so-called financial geniuses (genii?) who are making the business decisions?

exasperatedly,
Bright

[loudsue]

17. EXCELLENT point! If they spent even HALF that $$ on doing the right thing

they wouldn't be in this mess.

:kick::kick::kick:

[Doremus]

16. If it wasn't so tragic, this would be funny.

"When small-business owners or union officials - also employing political operatives from past campaigns..."

Oh yeah, us small business owners have a legion of political operatives at our disposal to help us defeat the gorilla. What a ridiculous statement.

Here in our town, the small downtown retail district has been decimated in the past 20 years from the onslaught of the big boxes. The only shops that have managed to survive have struggled for years, laid off most employees and tried to get shoppers to appreciate service over low prices.

Nine times out of 10 it's a lost cause. The old-timers, who comprise most of our anchor shops, are getting ready to retire. There's no one left to buy them out, so they'll liquidate their inventories and the empty storefronts will eventually become beauty salons or insurance offices.

In our blind quest for lower prices, we've committed suicide.

[kineneb]

18. perfect description

of the local town. WalMart opened and now all that is left is businesses run by near-retirees. Most of the business are real estate offices, hair dressers, insurance offices, and thrift stores. No one actually "produces" anything; we just have low-paying service jobs.

Lightbulb analogy-
The long-time locals can't figure out that the lightbulb has been burned out for years and are perfectly happy to sit in the dark. Occasionally they complain about how good the old lightbulb used to be, but can't see that it needs changing.

[wordout]

19. walmarts has the best rental policy

i rent power tools, winter clothes, a computer, spray paint, toys, etc.. for years and years. I inevitably lose satisfaction with their shitty products after, oh, about 29 days or whenever they're no longer needed. i laugh when i walk out the door carrying my refund.

[defiant1]

20. Screw em!

If your company requires a war room, or a team of experts to constantly inform the public about your good qualities, then your company probably doesn't have that many good qualities to begin with.

Fuck Big Box Mart.

[holboz]

21. For Christ's sake. If they'd just pay decent wages & health care

...then they wouldn't have to spend gazillions of dollars to improve their PR image with a load of bullshite!!!! And imagine the money they'd save on lawyers and legal fees on class action lawsuits!

IT' AIN'T ROCKET SCIENCE, MORANS.
:banghead:

This drives me nuts.

[Raster]

22. Memo to WalMart: How to fix your P.R. problems

The problem(s): WalMart's stock is dropping and sales suffering because the of belief that (a) WalMart does not pay their employees fairly, leaving many without a living wage; (b) WalMart prices employee health care benefits out of the reach of most of their employees; and (c) practices predatory employment practices, taking advantage of both employees and socio-economic challenged customers.

The solution(s): (a) pay your employees a fair, equitable living wage; (b) institute a single payer all-inclusive health care plan for employees; and (c) stop being an evil corporation.

The Waltons of Walmart fame and their immediate families constitute five of the richest people/families on the planet. It's no wonder they have P.R. problems from being some of the most evil fucks on the planet. They are some of the most evil fucks on the planet. They would use and abuse those who have the least to add to their troves, they who have the most. Don't hire P.R. people, just act like decent, CHRISTIAN human beings. Start with the Bible, you know, the part about a rich man getting into heaven...