How many scandals can Wal-mart have in one week? First their stores in Mexico are caught for bribing politicians (and then Wal-mart covered up the investigation), and now they are being fined by the Labor Department for denying workers overtime pay.
Who cares about another Wal-mart scandal? Well a few years back Wal-mart’s then CEO cared, and began an initiative to revamp Wal-mart’s practices and their public image. Yet according to the New York Times, the same CEO is the man responsible for covering up Wal-mart’s internal bribery investigation of the Mexico scandal.
Sounds like his public relations efforts are a mix of genuine effort to change, and still wanting to hide from the public when it gets uncomfortable.
These recent scandals could tarnish the image Wal-Mart has worked to rebuild over the years, but I am not convinced people will stop shopping at Wal-mart. People who shop their care about low prices and the convenience of getting it all in one place- I don’t think most shoppers care what Wal-mart does.
Yes, some do. And they need a strategic PR campaign to address these recent scandals. Especially since there have been protests in New York and Boston where Wal-mart is attempting to build stores. Wal-mart has to address the scandals and show the public they have plans in place to be sure it won’t happen in the future (and they won’t cover it up if it does!).
But Wal-mart has had a lot of questionable practices in the past, and I think the people will continue to fill the stores across the nation if they continue to roll back the prices.
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