Comments on: Edelman/Wal-mart Fake Blog Story Won’t Go Away

By: ???????

??????? — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:43:54 +0000

lcb Een plaatje zegt alles, toch ? amm Het volledige rapport is hier te vinden. Lees natuurlijk i de blogposting. h v
Thanks for interesting post! btt
?????????????? ????? 9d

By: Lily

Lily — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:52:41 +0000

Three cheers for Wal-Mart. And now they’ve started selling 3 months of those generics for $10. Wow! For my other meds that aren’t generic I use the prescription discount card that I found at http://www.rxdrugcard.com. Low membership fee. Drug prices posted to check before you join.

By: Stephen Denny

Stephen Denny — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 20:15:40 +0000

I’m admittedly very late to this discussion, but what the heck. We’ll call it fashionably late for now.
Walmart is a funny company. They are marvelously successful. They are actually a joy to do business with — I’ve found their merchants to be honest and straight-forward, every time I’ve ever worked with them. And that’s not common.
They’ve also done a huge service to every working family living paycheck to paycheck by providing tremendous service at low (not lowest, either) prices.
They’re not perfect. I’ve heard the standard stories about teaching new employees how to get food stamps, etc. This Edelman issue in all probability didn’t come from WMT.
But I don’t think Walmart ends up in my “too unethical to do business with” pile. I reserve that for tobacco companies, the porn industry, Harper Collins, and most politicians.

By: Darcy Moen

Darcy Moen — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 07:48:37 +0000

You might want to check out what Amanda's been saying on her blog about the PR industry, blogging, and multiple Edelman faux pas. http://www.strumpette.com The girl's had much to say (and question) about blog, blog ethics, and the ethics at play within the PR industry.

By: B.L. Ochman

B.L. Ochman — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 21:05:18 +0000

yes, absolutely, Edelman is a villian here. that’s what started the whole fracas.

By: Michael Morton

Michael Morton — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 19:05:57 +0000

I keep hearing this anti-Walmart speak from alot of marketers and public relations professionals. Quite frankly, I’m sick of it. Is selling bullets ethical? That is such a subjective question. If someone believes that it is unethical then they are ignoring the fact that many people practice skeet shooting (not people) for fun. But I digress.
To me, the real villain is Edelman. They knew better but committed the act anyway – all the while preaching transparency. There’s no way around it, Edelman is a two-faced company.

By: B.L. Ochman

B.L. Ochman — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:42:21 +0000

Maureen: Yes, I think that is a Pollyana point of view.
I wish it was so simple that PR firms just need to try to educate clients like Wal-mart, and others that have basically unethical, and sometimes even evil, products and/or ways of doing business.
Decisions about things like driving down quality, treating employees badly, running sweatshops, etc. are not decisions PR firms make for the client. Those are inherent to the client’s way of doing business. Edelman accepted those things when they got on Wal-mart’s train.
They could walk away and work for another company that has a basically honest approach to business sustainability.
They can’t talk about transparency, honesty, or ethics with any credibility when they are down in the dirt with pigs. (Nothing against pigs, by the way)

By: CK

CK — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 04:49:01 +0000

psst: Add Time Warner to the unethical list. Superman is a spammer... http://www.ck-blog.com/cks_blog/2006/11/its_a_bird_its_.html

By: Tim Jackson

Tim Jackson — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 03:10:44 +0000

Maureen- You hit hit the nail on the head! That is it- as responsible marketers, we can do this and that is our job, if we so choose to take the moral high ground. If you can deliver results to them by helping them change behavior, then they will change behavior. Money speaks to them as much as it speaks to anybody else.
Excellent point!

By: Maureen Rogers

Maureen Rogers — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 01:35:26 +0000

BL – I’m not a big WalMart fan (went there once and wasn’t impressed), but I agree with Cam and Tim that they’re a mixture of good and bad. (Admittedly, the bad – the way they treat their employees,driving down quality along with price, etc. – are pretty awful.)And Edelman deserves all the negatives its getting for its faux blogging. But wouldn’t PR firms be serving their clients better if they weren’t just helping them spin, but were actually trying to guide them toward better behavior by leveling with them about the behaviors that give them a well-merited black eye? Don’t just help them spin it – encourage them to change it! Or am I being a Pollyanna, too?