Wal-Mart's War Room

As many of you know, I have an entire category dedicat3d to Wal-Mart.  Why?  Simply because their corporate practices are being exposed as increasingly onerous and, well, despicable.  It's always fun to rant about corporate greed, at least for me. 

Then something funny happened: Wal-Mart started to care.

They have started community action and upliftment programs at the local level.  Well-publicized failures to move into the New York, Chicago and L.A. markets, combined with a falling stock price, seems to have gotten their attention.  As this article (sent by Ed) describes, Wal-Mart even has a media "war room" to monitor stories and respond to them.

For as much as I rant about the national and world media, situations like this display how the media can actually serve as a positive agent for change.  Just getting Wal-Mart to care may seem like a small step, since perceptions can be managed independently from reality.  But it's still a positive accomplishment, and still a step in the right direction. 

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