Looking for Spin in All the Strange Places
Ann Zimmerman of the Wall Street Journal reports on the efforts by Wal-Mart to counteract bad press by reaching out to blogs:
“Yes, we reach out to bloggers in the same way we reach out to reporters,” says Mona Williams, Wal-Mart spokeswoman. “A lot of people are looking to bloggers for their news source, and this is a good way to get our message out.”
About a half-dozen of these bloggers receive Mr. Manson’s [Marshall Manson, senior account executive for Edelman] regular emails — about 12 since Dec. 9, according to John McAdams, a professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee who writes the Marquette Warrior blog. Mr. McAdams has used only about three items, dismissing some of the items as pro-Wal-Mart fluff, according to a recent posting on his blog.
For instance, Mr. McAdams says he chose not to write about a couple of Mr. Manson’s messages about “some goody two shoes initiatives at Wal-Mart, including an eco-friendly laptop computer, and the claim by CEO [Lee] Scott that Wal-Mart is increasing its health-care offerings to employees. “We blew this off as PR fluff. We like Wal-Mart best when it is being politically incorrect,” Mr. McAdams wrote.
But Mr. McAdams did write a Mr. Manson-inspired item making fun of unions hiring the homeless and day laborers to protest at nonunion businesses, including Wal-Mart, and paying them minimum wage and no benefits. This was recommended to him by Mr. Manson.
