Anti Wal-Mart Commercials May be a Waste of Money

Wal-Mart is under fire yet again. A group whose goal is pretty much to make Wal-Mart's life as difficult as possible has created a new ad campaign in attempt to discourage shoppers for the upcoming holiday season. Their website, www.wakeupwalmart.com, provides a pretty comprehensive list of reasons not to shop at or otherwise support Wal-Mart but their most recent attack concerns the widely publicized Chinese toy recall. A large portion of Wal-Mart's consumer products are made in China; and the group, funded by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, claims that conglomerates like Wal-Mart are responsible for the recent safety issues. This is due to the fact that the Chinese suppliers are constantly pressured to cut costs, which in turn, causes them to cut corners and often safety measures are the first to go. The commercials are currently airing across the Southern and Midwest regions of the country. (A recent article from an Arkansas news source highlights the story)

Wal-Mart has already responded to the toy crisis by assuring consumers that harsher safety measures will be enforced in addition to their own personal testing of all products coming from Chinese markets in the future. Spokesman Dave Tovar recently responded to the anti-Wal-Mart ad spots by saying, "Our commitment to low prices is never at the cost of safety. Product safety has always been and will continue to be a top priority at Wal-Mart."

Personally, if Wal-Mart plays their cards right, I don't really see these negative ads becoming a problem. There seems to be a continental divide on this issue: those who shop at Wal-Mart and those whose goal is to destroy them and neither side is easily swayed. The most probable result of the anti-Wal-Mart campaign is that shoppers will look at labels more closely and stray away from purchasing any products with the "Made in China" label rather than avoiding Wal-Mart altogether.