January 24 Assignment

Dear H. Lee Scott (Wal-Mart CEO)

As I am sure you already know, there is a lot of bad press on the internet about Wal-Mart and its practices. I am writing this to alert you to some things that are circulating on the internet.

I began my search for bad press by searching for "Wal-Mart" on Google. I came across a blog called wake up Wal-Mart and it featured less than flattering news on what was going on with Wal-Mart. It also had an area where people could sign up to become members so they could get the latest dirt on our company. There was also a section where interested parties could learn how to start a Wake Up Wal-Mart club in their area and it gave instructions on what to do at meetings and how they could take action to change Wal-Mart.

I also came across a website for the movie "Wal-Mart The High Cost of Low Price." This website focused on the movie and had many sections where people could check out reviews or even buy the movies in bulk so they could give them away to friends and family or sell them to other people they know would be interested. This site also included links to many other anti Wal-Mart resources, including Wake Up Wal-Mart (mentioned above), Wal-Mart Watch and many other groups interested parties could join.

Another site, Sprawl-Busters.com, was against all big box retailers but it was featured as a member of the anti Wal-Mart alliance on the movie website. Sprawl-Busters is a group focused on stopping these big retailers from coming to their towns. They help citizen groups strategize and carry out plans to stop the superstores from moving in. Their page features a news flash page with information on the battles against big box retailers across the country. They also promote the book "Slam Dunking Wal-Mart" as a good resource to use for "hands-on" combat with things they call Sprawl-Marts. And instead of a revision of the Wal-Mart symbol for the focus of their web page, they have a picture of an upset looking man wearing a white t-shirt with Wal-Mart in black letters enclosed in red circle with a large line through it. The man looks menacing and it gets their anti Wal-Mart viewpoint across very clearly.

The last webpage I looked at was called the Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now, referred to as WARN by the page itself. WARN describes itself as a coalition of individuals and groups working together to provide the voice for citizens to force Wal-Mart to become accountable to the community and its standards and values. This site invites visitors to join a fight against Wal-Mart from a list of possible locations. It also has a link divulging information on all of their victories against Wal-Mart. The latest victory was in Orlando, where they convinced the government to put a halt on all mega store construction over 75,000 square feet. I only searched once and came up with a long list of anti Wal-Mart sites. It is important to check these periodically so we know what the opposition thinks of us and so we can combat that with the help of our public relations officials.

The last webpage I looked at was called the Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now, referred to as WARN by the page itself. WARN describes itself as a coalition of individuals and groups working together to provide the voice for citizens to force Wal-Mart to become accountable to the community and its standards and values. This site invites visitors to join a fight against Wal-Mart from a list of possible locations. It also has a link divulging information on all of their victories against Wal-Mart. The latest victory was in Orlando, where they convinced the government to put a halt on all mega store construction over 75,000 square feet.

I only searched once and came up with a long list of anti Wal-Mart sites. It is important to check these periodically so we know what the opposition thinks of us and so we can combat that with the help of our public relations officials.