Wal-Mart Stores: Articles & Commentary 2003-2005

The following are articles & commentary for 2003 and 2004 related to the main page Wal-Mart Stores.

2003

• Charles Fishman, "The Wal-Mart You Don't Know," Fast Company, December 2003: "The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?"

2004

• Alison Vekshin, "Wal-Mart beefs up federal presence," Arkansas News Bureau, January 18, 2004.
• Glen Ford and Peter Gamble, No "Choice": Wal-Mart Prepares to Bury the Left Under a Mountain of Money, In These Times, March 31, 2004.
• Jack Neff, "Wal-Mart Accepts Marketer Price Increases," Advertising Age, April 6, 2004.
• Ann Zimmerman, "Wal-Mart Loses Supercenter Vote," Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2004, p. B7. (Sub req'd.).
• John N. Frank, "Activist Campaign Defeats Wal-Mart's Supercenter," PR Week, April 8, 2004. (Sub req'd.).
• Tenisha Mercer, "Michigan unions unite to fight Wal-Mart," Detroit News, May 21, 2004: "Michigan is a test ground for a coordinated and aggressive new campaign by organized labor against Wal-Mart, which has plans for rapid expansion in the state. ... Frustrated by Wal-Mart’s success at beating back organizing drives, four major unions — the Teamsters, United Food and Commercial Workers, Service Employees International and Hotel and Restaurant Employees International — have joined forces against the giant retailer."
• Constance L. Hays, "Wal-Mart Tries to Shine Its Image by Supporting Public Broadcasting", New York Times, August 16, 2004.
• Constance L. Hays, "At Wal-Mart, the New Word Is Compromise", New York Times, September 9, 2004.
• Julia Hood, "bolsters media relations to buck image woes", PR Week, September 13, 2004.
• "Wal-Mart's New Spin", New York Times, Editorial, September 14, 2004.
• "Wal-Mart stands mum", O'Dwyers PR Daily, September 14, 2004.
• Lance Turner, "Wal-Mart Launches Letter Campaign in California," Arkansasbusiness.com, September 23, 2004.
• "Wal-Mart Launches Communications Initiative to Set the Record Straight in California; Retailer Combats Inaccurate Information by Directly Reaching Out to Californians," Business Wire, September 23, 2004.
• Hamilton Nolan, "H&K helping Wal-Mart fix reputation in CA," PR Week, October 4, 2004.
• Edward Howard to Represent Wal-Mart in Ohio," HolmesReport.com, October 4, 2004.
• Bruce Horovitz, "Retailers stump for Election Day sales," USA Today, November 2, 2004.
• Hamilton Nolan, "UFCW seeking to unionize Canada Wal-Mart workers," PR Week (sub. req'd.), November 8, 2004.

2005

• Lorrie Grant, "Wal-Mart CEO vows 'unfiltered truth'," USA Today, January 13, 2005.
• Lorrie Grant, "Wal-Mart CEO to counteract 'urban legend'," USA Today, January 13, 2005.
• "Wal-Mart Draws Line in the Sand," O'Dwyer's PR Daily, January 13, 2005.
• "Wal-Mart Attacks Critics, Using Newspaper Ads," Associated Press, January 13, 2005.
• Barrie McKenna, "Wal-Mart strikes back at detractors with new million-dollar PR push: 'It's time to draw our own line in the sand,' retail giant's CEO says in ad," Globe and Mail, January 14, 2005.
• Mike Buffington, "Letter to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott", January 15, 2005.
• Jim Elsener, "Price of a Free Press Can Be Costly", The Business Ledger, April 4, 2005.
• John N. Frank and Hamilton Nolan, "Wal-Mart media summit provokes unions", PR Week, April 4, 2005. (Sub req'd).
• "Wal-Mart officials advised to confront growing criticism", Washington Times, April 4, 2005.
• John N. Frank, "At its media summit, Wal-Mart stresses openness to journalists, benefits to community", PR Week, April 6, 2005. (sub. req'd.)
• James Bandler and Ann Zimmerman, "A Wal-Mart Legend's Trail of Deceit: Mr. Coughlin Told Others Bogus Expenses Hid Plot Against Unions, Retailer Disputes His Claim," Wall Street Journal (sub. req'd.), April 8, 2005.
• Christopher Leonard, "A Wal-Mart charm offensive opens HQ to a rare peek inside," Christian Science Monitor, April 8, 2005.
• John N. Frank, "Wal-Mart moves PR director to regional corporate affairs post", PR Week (Sub. req'd.), April 10, 2005.
• "Wal-Mart Brings In Real Estate PR Firm in N.Y.," O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub. req'd.), April 11, 2005.
• Kelly Hearn, "Wal-Mart's Wily Ways," Alternet, April 13, 2005.
• John N. Frank, "Wal-Mart director resigns after ad draws criticism", PR Week, June 10, 2005. (Sub req'd).
• Steven Greenhouse, "How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart," New York Times, July 17, 2005: Costco: "The company is challenging the idea that discount retailers must pay workers poorly."
• John N. Frank, "Wal-Mart seeks to improve its image in NY", PR Week, July 25 2005.
• Lewis Lazare, "Wal-Mart image shift too subtle", Chicago Sun-Times, August 10, 2005.
• Amy Schiller, "The Wal-Mart Thought Police: The 'everyday low prices' superchain refuses to carry books and music that dare criticize conservative values", Alternet, August 16, 2005.
• Anita French, "Wal-Mart Critics Continue Campaigns," The Morning News, September 14, 2005.
• Emily Kaiser, "Wal-Mart rides good PR, plans secret spin strategy," Reuters, September 19, 2005.
• Hamilton Nolan, "Edelman joins Wal-Mart list of PR agencies", PR Week, September 29, 2005. (Sub req'd).
• Emily Kaiser, "Dueling Wal-Mart documentaries coming to DVD", October 26, 2005.
• Stephen Baker, "Edelman shows Wal-Mart the power of blogs", Blogspotting, Businessweek, October 26, 2005.
• Amy Joyce and Ben White, "Wal-Mart Pushes to Soften Its Image: Social, Environmental Initiatives Seen as Part of Larger Effort to Counter Critics", Washington Post, October 29, 2005; Page D01.
• Anita French, "Wal-Mart Gears Up Its PR", The Morning News, October 28, 2005.
• "Trippi Multimedia Joins WakeUpWalMart.Com's Campaign to Raise Awareness About Wal-Mart's Bad Practices," US Newswire, October 31, 2005: "Trippi Multimedia has joined WakeUpWalMart.com in launching a national advertising and multimedia campaign about 'the movie and the memo Wal-Mart does not want you to see.'"
• Michael Barbaro, "A New Weapon for Wal-Mart: A War Room," New York Times, November 1, 2005.
• Jonathan Birchall, "Wal-Mart unveils new weapon in battle with critics", MSNBC, November 4, 2005.
• Ann Zimmerman, "Wal-Mart Sets Seminar to Assess Economic Impact", Wall Street Journal, November 4, 2005. (Sub req'd).
• Global Insight, "The Economic Impact of Wal-Mart", November 2, 2005.
• Global Insight, "Global Insight Releases New Study on the Impact of Wal-Mart on the U.S. Economy", Media Release, November 4, 2005.
• Global Insight, "Measuring the Economic Impact of Wal-Mart on the U.S. Economy", November 2005. (This page is an overview of the Wal-Mart sponsored conference on the impact of the company).
• "Measuring the Economic Impact of Wal-Mart on the U.S. Economy", November 2005. (This page lists the other papers presented at the Wal-Mart sponsored conference and links to most of them).
• Jonathan Tasini, "The Wal-Mart 22", TomPaine.com, November 9, 2005.
• Michael Rubinkam, "100 Arrested at Wal-Mart Construction Site," Associated Press, November 18, 2005.
• Associated Press, "Hell Freezes Over: Wal-Mart Launches Massive Newspaper Ad Push," December 8, 2005.
• Mya Frazier, "Wal-Mart Spot Rings Bell for Salvation Army," Advertising Age, page 29, December 12, 2005 (online version posted December 7).