We're All Wal-Mart's Bitches

FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS

The Grand Poobahs of discount retailing have been tweaking their PR strategy of late and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why: It’s playing defendant in the largest civil rights lawsuit in American history; Thousands of its workers are showing up on the public health care doles, while others are suing for unpaid overtime. The bad news for Wal-Mart just goes on. And on. And on.

Until recently, Wal-Mart’s spin centered around an evasive little jig called: “The Consumer Made Me Do It.” Responding to the usual litany of beefs, that is pushes manufacturing jobs overseas, causes traffic nightmares in our sprawling big box shopping ghettoes, Wal-Mart has claimed it’s merely serving the unquestionable force that is “The Consumer.”

If we build it and y’all keep coming, are we really responsible? A seductive argument to be sure and part of a slowly emerging national dialogue on the shopper’s role in socioeconomic clusterfucks.

But at its annual shareholders meeting in Fayetteville, Arkansas Wal-Mart’s spin has taken on a slightly different form.

For the uninitiated, Wal-Mart's shareholder’s meeting has all the self-congratulation of Oscar Night, with a certain touch of Middle American Triumph of The Will.

But then there’s the global element: Watching the international Wal-Mart divisions file into the University of Arkansas’ Bud Walton Arena, is like an Olympic opening ceremony for retail nerds: Japan, Korea, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Germany, all marching in their color coordinated uniforms, Wal-Mart badges swaying with their proud strides. My favorite were the folks from Wal-Mart’s UK division, ASDA, who transformed football songs into a creepy capitalist power chant: “We love you ASDA, oh yes we do, we love you ASDA….”

This year the 18,000-odd attendees were treated to performances by Bon Jovi and Garth Brooks, the national anthem courtesy of Jessica lose-some-weight-already! Simpson, even a Dreamworks short featuring the penguins of "Madagascar" doing the Wal-Mart cheer. The night before, Jimmy Buffet performed in the University of Arkansas football stadium for “Wal-Mart associates only.” The night before that it was Will Smith, who suggested the company lose an “a” to make “Wil-Mart.” Get it?

(It’s worth noting that Wal-Mart doesn’t pay for such celebrity bells and whistles--the record labels and film studios know quite well where their bread is buttered and sends emissaries on their own accord.)

But this is only the sideshow: Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott has been deploying a slightly new spin someone should’ve written for him years ago. In countless interviews Scott keeps steering the discussion back to an undeniable fact: That Wal-Mart’s core customers live paycheck to paycheck.

Say what you want about Bentonville’s behemoth — that it rips the soul out of small towns, that it drives good manufacturing jobs to a communist dictatorship, that it keeps health care out of reach of a vulnerable workforce — it’s hard to claim it doesn’t help out a lot of poor people, at least in the short term. Whether it’s groceries, or the cheapest check cashing and money wiring services, not to mention an increasingly unembarrassing apparel selection, the company does what no anti-globalization puppet and drum corps can muster: It sells goods for less.

However, unintentional Scott’s new talking points raise what hasgot to be the $285 billion question for progressives: How do you tell a poor person that a $30 DVD player sucks?

Perhaps you don’t. But what then? Right now it seems, no one really knows.

In a story in Friday’s Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Scott framed his company’s mediocre sales figures rather curiously. Without criticizing the Bush administration, which Wal-Mart overwhelmingly supported, Scott noted how tax policies coupled with rising gas prices have limited the spending power of the poorest Americans.

But for Wal-Mart the lesson isn’t populist revolution, but as Scott explained, making its merchandise selection more relevant to higher income customers without ignoring his poorer base.

Kinda weird that a discussion about class is being facilitated by a guy making $25 million a year? But maybe that's the rule in Wal-Mart's America, whether left or right, if you want to broach the subject of class, it helps if you're already a millionaire.