Walmart
When you hear the word “Walmart” what immediately comes to mind?
Are these items on your list: green, fair trade, good for the economy?
Few people see Walmart through those filters, so if you had any of those in your list, you have either worked for the Walmart corporation or been convinced by their advertising–both of which are valid reasons to have those items on your list.
But very few people have seen their “environmentally friendly” ads. So how effective have their efforts been?
Corporate Rhetoric
No matter what a company’s ads may say, a little bit of research and analysis can help you determine what their company is really about. Some of these questions may seem familiar, but we’re now applying them to an entire company as opposed to a single ad.
What do they say?
In the last few years, Walmart has tried a couple of different “green” campaigns. Read (and interact as much as possible with) these articles. Note the dates of each article, as well as where they were published:
This is a long but very important article with tons of information. And like a good magazine article, it is packed from top to bottom with great tidbits. There are lots of things to click on, but especially notice the sidebar information.
Walmart ads tout green products
I had trouble interacting with the print ad mid-article, but take a look at it, and click on the “interactive” slideshow. Can architecture be part of an advertising/marketing campaign?
Does anything in this article send up red flags? What might lead to additional research? We’ll come back to this.
While not all of these writers have bought the Walmart party line, they have all contributed to what Walmart is saying about sustainability and eco-friendliness. So what are they saying? Having read these three articles, you can probably write an ad for Walmart yourself! At least make a note of some of the specific ideas and words they are using. Then watch this ad (you don’t have to read the accompanying article):
This ad makes some great rhetorical moves–in particular they provide some rather dull statistics, but presented in a way that makes them “cute”–I mean, admit it, these two little tweenies are rather cute! Ultimately, though, what does Walmart say? Is their message any different than it has been in the past? They still have the same slogan, but they have cleverly manipulated their message to give the slogan new meaning. Can you find any other Walmart ads, or do you remember any of the green ads they have tried over the years? What they say–as reported in the articles you read–is important to the understanding of their rhetoric of environmentalism and whether or not this rhetoric is effective.
Where do they say it?
Walmart is the perfect choice for a look at corporate rhetoric because they do everything deliberately. That slogan–”Save Money. Live Better. WalMart.”–is on EVERYTHING: ads, signage, even their shopping bags. But go back to that second article. Even their architecture is important.
My parents live in Las Cruces and the newest Walmart looks a lot like the one in the picture–however it was built before 2000, and that article was written just a year ago. What these articles are not telling you is that Walmart has been trying to re-invent itself under an “eco friendly” banner for more than a decade.
Even the articles themselves are part of Walmart’s campaign! No, they aren’t paying for them–and I have to say that I agree that these efforts are newsworthy, even if we don’t believe Walmart is sincere in its efforts. But you have to look at everything said about a company as contributing to its marketing efforts, for good or for bad.
Finally–and this is important to your research for the final project–you should learn to dig in to a company’s web site to find more than just their public face. Most publicly traded companies–which most of your campaign choices are following–must provide more than just advertising on their web sites. You can find financials, mission statements, some internal marketing information. Go to Walmart.com and scroll to the bottom. If you click on the link “Walmart Stores, Inc” you will be amazed at how much information they have available for your reading enjoyment!
What do they mean?
If you have followed any of the links on that page, or carefully read the articles provided, you probably have a personal idea of what Walmart really means by what they say. You may think they are really trying to become more environmentally friendly. You may think they want to shine up their tarnished image. You may think they are full of crap and it’s all about making more money. No matter your level of cynicism, there are clues out there about what they really intend.
First, look at the Fortune article again if necessary. The founder of Walmart was a country man, who raised his kids to enjoy the outdoors. That is their truth, so at least some of the family members care about some aspects of the environment. That background will color their ideas about what it means to be environmentally friendly. This plays directly to their use of the word “sustainability.” That word is very important. Look it up.
That is a loaded word, but one of the few ideas that has the potential to bring together the agricultural community and the “environmentalist” community. Sustainability is an old and revered idea within agriculture, the most basic idea of all. It is tied to the deep love that farmers and ranchers have for the land–not corporate farmers, but the real every day people who have always been the backbone of our food and resource supply.
Now the environmental movement has taken on this age-old idea and tried to spin it into something new. Don’t be fooled! It’s not a new idea at all. Where it becomes revitalized is through the corporate spin. I’m not sure corporations “get” what sustainability really is, but it will be interesting to track what happens in the case of Walmart. And this leads to the next question:
What do they do?
What has Walmart actually DONE to meet or miss the sustainability mark? They have 50 items in their stores that are produced in some eco-friendly or sustainable way. They claim to have 500 such items on their web site (what I’m wondering is why all of those items aren’t in their stores!). And according to the Fortune article, they have 5 people committed to their sustainability goals.
How many items does Walmart have in any one store? How many stores? How many total employees? I do not wish to imply that they are lying. I do want to point out that while they are, perhaps, trying to develop a corporate culture of sustainability, Walmart has a deeper and longer standing culture of profit-maximization.
Analyzing effectiveness must go beyond what your own opinions dictate. As you research the campaign you are following, you must also research the company. Do they follow through on the promises–real and implied–made by their ads? For example, when the handsome, rich-voiced Dennis Haysbert says “That’s Allstate’s stand,” or “Are you in good hands?” he is making some implicit promises about the company beyond the specific point of each individual ad. So it would be important to research Allstate’s track record on such issues as claim adjustments, wait time, etc. Do they really give money back to people who have perfect driving records? What do professionals such as journalists say, and what do real people say? Read blogs, read articles, and read what the company says beyond the ads you watch.
Moving from “Say” to “Mean”
Ultimately, you have to decide if there is a gap between what the ads say and what the company means. You now have many analytical tools at your disposal–and you have your own mind through which to filter the information you receive.
You may include such things as your own personal ideas and opinions, evaluation of facts, analysis of research as compared to the public face of a company, political ideologies, philosophical differences.
What I particularly want you to realize this week is that delving in to the rhetoric of an entire company adds a whole new dimension to your understanding of their ads. As you learn about a company, you should ask the same questions of their internal policies as you do of their individual ads.
I want to close with a link to Slate’s Ad Report Card. Wander around and look at several of these. I think the writer is a moron about advertising, but a genius for research. He knows everyone! The good news is that you can find almost all of the same kinds of information by searching the internet.
