WOM destroying Wal-mart

It is no secret that Wal-mart has been under scrutiny for their questionable business ethics and practices for some time now.  For as long as I can remember, there has always been something negative being said about this 'evil corporation.'  It seems clear that Wal-mart has been in a long-term crisis that continues to deteriorate their image and reputation, keeping their PR company, Edelman, busy 24/7.

We have all heard the horror stories of Wal-mart's poor treatment of employees, the cheating out of benefits, the greedy tendencies and seemingly moral-less ways.  This poses a serious problem for the multi-billion dollar corporation.  They need to turn their reputation around before everyone begins boycotting.  In my opinion, the issue is not whether the facts are legit. Are these stories even true?  This doesn't really matter.  The problem stems from the fact that people SPREAD these stories, regardless if they're true or not.  Not only do they spread them, but they spin them anyway they want based on their opinions.  This is the bad side of word of mouth marketing, and this is exactly what is destroying Wal-mart.  

Jeff Jarvis is a great example of a blogger spreading a negative image of Wal-mart to internet readers.  In his post, he relays the most recent horror story of a Walmart former employee, Debbie Shank who was hit by a truck, severely injured, won a lawsuit, and then was sued by Wal-mart who wanted a cut of her winnings.  This makes Wal-mart out to be the bad guy...but is this really the whole story?  Is Wal-mart as bad as everyone makes them out to be? 

 

My point is that it does not seem to matter.  With social networks and interactive blogs, people can say what they want and influence the opinions of others so easily.  So what does Edelman and Wal-mart do to combat this negative grape-vine effect of WOM?  Well for starters, Wal-Mart has their own blog that attempts to shine a positive light on the business.  They post consistently about what's new with the company, perks for their customers, new products coming out, what they are doing to help the community, etc.  

As I discussed in a previous post, blogs have become a great new strategy businesses have begun utilizing to combat negative WOM.  Although information coming right from the source obviously portrays a bias position, it is important that Wal-mart portray their side of the story.  If they just sit back and let the smack talk happen, I believe this company would have been in shambles a lot sooner.  What they need to do is prove people wrong and get some positive stories spread throughout the nation.  Using word of mouth marketing effectively can really increase a company's success.  So who knows what their reputation will be in 10 years, but I do think their blog is a solid step in the right direction for Wal-mart (from a PR standpoint that is...)