PR Week on Working Families For Wal-Mart

From PR Week:

Edelman’s recovery from its Working Families for Wal-Mart (WFWM) blog imbroglio hit an embarrassing snag when an anti-Wal-Mart group started posting disparaging information at the Web domain workingfamiliesforwalmart.com.

Wal-Mart Watch, a union-supported anti-Wal-Mart group, registered the domain name in April 2006, but started posting after Edelman’s blog troubles, according to Wal-Mart Watch spokesman Nu Wexler.

Its appearance resembles that of WFWM’s actual site, forwalmart.com, but the content is critical of the company and its firm.

Donna Lewis-Johnson, media spokesperson for WFWM and Edelman VP, said that forwalmart.com traffic has been consistently rising. She called the other site “a PR stunt. Its real world impact is nil.”

She added that the gaffe hadn’t affected Edelman’s relationship with Wal-Mart.

Meanwhile, Edelman chief of staff Derek Creevey said the firm is on track with all of its reforms promised after news of its blog mishap broke. He said that all staff has attended social media training classes, and that a review of the firm’s past work for errors is “more than 50%” complete.”

Creevey didn’t know whether results of the review would be made public, or not, but he said that no problems have been unearthed so far.

• Click here (PDF) to learn more about the Wal-Mart Fake Blog Controversy.

• Click here to visit Working Familes For Wal-Mart.

Posted by Russ Fagaly on Friday, December 01, 2006

Click Here for a Printer-Friendly Version