From Jim Gilliam's blog archives
Wal-Mart corporate is revving up the spin machine
September 16, 2005 11:31 PM
The battle lines are taking shape in the emerging media battle surrounding our new Wal-Mart film. Lee Scott seems to be revelling in all the excitement, dropping hints of their "secret spin strategy." Two months ago, we called Lee Scott's office (the CEO) to request an interview. After several phone calls with Mona Williams, his spokesperson, he declined, but Mona promised: "We will be very aggressive in getting our side of the story out. We will do it separately where we can control what we say and how it's presented." They spend $3.8 million a day ($1.4 billion a year!) getting their side of the story out, mostly through lavish commercials, so I've been quite intrigued as to what "very aggressive" might mean. Since then, they've done a few things. First, came the rush-job spin conference set for the weekend before the film's launch. Still no word on where the conference will be. Not even a city. Then they hired the massive PR firm, Edelman, who was undoubtedly responsible for Wal-Mart's very public generosity in the aftermath of the Katrina nightmare. Between the Walton family and the company, they contributed $23 million -- a great investment... for less than a week's worth of advertising, they've gotten amazingly good press out of it. Lee Scott is even boasting to his employees how the "generosity" has influenced his critics: It's "shut them up for a while." Then Wal-Mart set up a blog called (and I'm not making this up) "Stories of Hope" where they go into astonishing detail of their generosity, such as this slice of cheesiness: "Wal-Mart has donated $17 million in cash to the relief effort, but it is the down-home caring that makes a difference." Now, thanks to Kevin at the Always Low Prices blog, we know that Mike Krempasky was hired two weeks ago to, as he describes it, "help companies appropriately shift conversations online, to not only build a better image - but to actually be better online citizens." Just yesterday, Mike blogged about working for Wal-Mart. Why is Mike Krempasky interesting? He's the right-winger behind Rathergate.com, one of the bloggers at RedState.org, and a hardcore Republican operative. What do I think Wal-Mart corporate's got cooking? Their own movie, of course!
More from the archive in Propaganda, Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart corporate is revving up the spin machine (09.16.2005)
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