The Wal-Mart PR Wars

An interesting editorial in the NY Sun today on how the “Wal-Mart War” is now a sophisticated PR battle comparable to an intensely fought presidential campaign:

Wal-Mart's recent travails may be reverberating in the business world, but they're having just as big an impact on the political world. The Wal-Mart Wars, fought by two savvy sides armed with sophisticated arsenals of public relations weapons, offer a glimpse of how companies and their critics will duke it out for years to come. And politicians are taking note.

One thing to note is that Wal-Mart’s critics are having quite a large impact even with relatively limited resources. Lower cost grassroots methods are proving extremely effective and though Wal-Mart has saturated the airwaves this doesn’t necessarily translate into people viewing the company favorably.