Sweet dreams, Sam Walton
Wal-Mart broke two new commercials yesterday about citizenship and corporate values to provide a counterbalance to its detractors. The irony meter's into the red on this one. Even non-cynics are probably rolling their eyes. The chain enlisted Blue Ray, a unit of PR giant Edelman, to fashion the pair of feel-good commercials that frequently approximate the look and feel of political ads—with a nod to Hal Riney, there's even a "Morning Again in America"-style voiceover in one spot. (To see the commercials, look for the video streams entitled, “Sam’s Dream” and “One Company,” at this link.) Strangely, it’s the supers that make these seem so much like political ads—which they effectively are. They include such pro-Wal-Mart factoids as, “saves working families $2300/year,” “[creates] thousands of new American jobs,” “[offers] health insurance premiums less than $1/day,” “$245 million to charities, most given locally.” Of course, Edelman generated lots of negative press for the client last year by faking a pro-Wal-Mart blog. And, of course, Wal-Mart kicked DraftFCB off its $570 million ad business just weeks after hiring the agency and re-opened its account review amid allegations of executive impropriety—or at the very least, bad judgment. But let’s get back to this bit about “Sam’s Dream.” Given Wal-Mart's current state of turmoil, what would Sam Walton dream about if he were alive today? Would he wake with a jolt, sweat-soaked Stetson slipping to the floor, lips a-quiver with night terrors no smiley-faced psychotherapist could drive from his mind? One can almost picture the company founder still half asleep, rattling off a litany of horrors: "Howard Draft ... Wall-Street research notes ... Again with that stupid union? ... Julie Roehm ... Michael Moore ... We can't be sold out of Hello Kitty t-shirts! ... Oh my God, not another Target store!" —Posted by David Gianatasio and Catharine P. Taylor |
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January 9, 2007 | Permalink |
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Just what you'd expect from a bunch of pr monkees--a commercial so obviously wrong that it begs the question: does anybody at Wal-Mart know what they're doing anymore? HIre Martin or Ogilvy fast and get some professionals who know what they're doing. And if your pr firm offers to do any more commericials for you don't waste you money.
Posted by: thumper | Jan 9, 2007 10:06:54 AM
Right, like no other company in the world does positive commercials, preaching their values and what a friendly place they are. Of course, poor "evil" Wal-Mart can't do it without the S-P's getting bitchy about it.
Posted by: Jerry | Jan 9, 2007 1:51:39 PM
They can do it. But maybe they should try to do it in somewhat of a interesting way. This comes off like some ad students threw together stock footage and the client wrote the copy
Posted by: thumper | Jan 9, 2007 4:52:06 PM
I suppose if Wal-Mart weren't used as a political football by every politician seeking camera time, they wouldn't have to do this sort of schmaltzy stuff.
What would Sam Walton do? He'd be the first to axe these sentimental puff pieces, stand in front of the cameras, and say, "You don't like Wal-Mart? Then don't shop there. Don't work there. If nobody liked what we're doing, we would be out of business in a heartbeat."
Posted by: Daniel R. Sweet | Jan 9, 2007 6:05:30 PM
>>-a commercial so obviously wrong that it begs the question: does anybody at Wal-Mart know what they're doing anymore?
I think you mean "raises the question." Perhaps you should learn to write properly before you go pointing out what is so obviously wrong in others.
What is "Begging the Question?" http://begthequestion.info/
Posted by: Steven Andrew Miller | Jan 11, 2007 8:13:00 AM
