Retail Giant’s Ads Ditch Real Folks for Stars
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in the midst of an aggressive campaign to polish its image, has explained why it has banished from its newest commercials the everyday folks it is working so hard to win over -- customers and its own employees. It turns out they don’t quite connect with, well, the right sort of people.
That’s why the company is using Garth Brooks, Beyonce Knowles and other celebrities for the first time in its holiday TV and print advertising, instead of shoppers and workers, a top executive said this week at a JPMorgan investors conference in New York.
“We’ve bragged about that in the past, and it was good for a while,” said Jay Fitzsimmons, the company’s treasurer and senior vice president of finance.
“But those associates and customers look like they came from Memphis or Birmingham -- and they usually did,” he said, referring to the biggest cities in Tennessee and Alabama, deep in the heart of Wal-Mart country. “They didn’t resonate with people in the metropolitan areas and the coastal areas.”
That’s increasingly important territory for Wal-Mart. The operator of more than 3,700 stores nationwide is pegging its expansion to being able to move into urban areas, particularly in California and Chicago and on the East Coast.
Although Wal-Mart says it intended no offense to residents or employees in either Southern city, Fitzsimmons’ comments appear ill-timed given the firm’s recent public relations push.
The strategy, however, may have worked: Wal-Mart reported strong sales for November, which included the company’s holiday push the day after Thanksgiving, posting a 4.3% gain in stores open at least a year, a key measure of retail performance.
To one persistent Wal-Mart critic, Fitzsimmons’ statements reflected how the Bentonville, Ark.-based company viewed its 1.3 million U.S. employees.
“Wal-Mart has faux concern for their workers, and now they’ll have faux workers in their ads,” said Tracy Sefl of Wal-Mart Watch, an advocacy group aligned with labor unions.
Wal-Mart defended Fitzsimmons’ remarks.
“I think he was simply saying styles might vary by region, and we need to make sure our merchandise and advertising reflects this,” spokeswoman Mona Williams said.
Wal-Mart’s current campaign features country singers Brooks and Martina McBride as well as rapper Queen Latifah and the Beyonce-led R&B-pop; trio Destiny’s Child. But future ads will again use Wal-Mart customers and workers, Williams said, in addition to celebrities.
To the Memphis mayor’s office, looking as if you come from the city is a compliment.
“I am very proud of the people of Memphis, how all of us look,” said Gale Jones Carson, a spokeswoman for Mayor Willie W. Herenton. “America is made up of all kinds of people, and we add to that great melting pot.”
