Wal-Mart Announces Healthy Food Initiative, Fried Chicken Store Openings.

Two news items listed side by side caught our attention this morning, and gave us pause as a ridiculous example of hypocrisy in marketing. Wal-Mart announced plans today for “healthier on-the-go eating” options. The retailer plans to install non-fast-food eateries in several stores. From the Associated Press via Arkansas Business:

Walk into an area Wal-Mart with hunger pains, and you will have the chance to order a cheeseburger and fries from a McDonald’s restaurant inside. In a matter of months, customers could have a different choice, perhaps a panini and a smoothie.

But in almost the same breath, Wal-Mart also announced plans to open Pollo Campero eateries - which specialize in fried chicken - in stores across the country. From the Associated Press:

Pollo Campero, a Latin American fried-chicken favorite that had been seen in the U.S. only in takeout boxes aboard arriving flights, has teamed up with Wal-Mart to expand its reach to the nation’s growing Hispanic population.

Much of this contradictory juxtaposition is about demographics: while Wal-Mart is still trying to go upscale in many areas of the country, it’s also broadening its appeal to Hispanic shoppers in the south. The company’s duplicity here is telling of its broader marketing strategies - it goes to show that Wal-Mart will make changes only when it suits the company. Though executives are selling the proposed “Camille’s Sidewalk Cafes” as good for their customers, the reality is that Wal-Mart is only interested in what sells. The company should drop its veneer of altruism and focus on low prices: its platitudes to social responsibility are tiresome.

Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, May 12, 2008

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COMMENTS

I am curious as t the type of fat or oil used in this fried chicken. The Pollo Campero website doesn’t say. Corn oil would seem to be quite expensive. I know that Mexican food uses lard a good bit,which enhances flavor. Ooh, I wonder if this is fried in lard(animal fat)?Caramba cholesterol!

ddrb in
Tuesday, May 13 at 01:41 PM

Pollo Campero’s fried chicken is in fact the healthiest chicken you could possibly eat that is fried. If one was to actually investigate the facts, the process in which Pollo Campero fries their chicken creates a pressure-oil environment and the oil doesn’t actually absorb into the chicken. The fried chicken is not greasy or oily and has 0 trans fat. I’ve been eating since working for them and my cholesterol and my heart problem I had have improved. I am not the only one...and not because I am an employee at the N. Dallas location...who has commented that the chicken is tasty and juicy without being greasy or full of oil. We have grilled chicken as well. Your criticisms of Wal-Mart are one thing, but to blindly comment on Pollo Campero without knowing anything about their product is quite another.

Jeff in Dallas, TX
Tuesday, May 13 at 11:29 PM

“The company should drop its veneer of altruism and focus on low prices: its platitudes to social responsibility.” are tiresome.”

“The government should take the lead on making its businesses the most socially responsible in the world, not taking advice from a man [Lee Scott] whose company [Wal-Mart] is an international byword for exploitation.”
~ Matthew McGregor, from the UK’s War On Want

ScrewedbyWal-Mart in Anytown, America
Wednesday, May 14 at 03:48 AM

I’ve been eating since working for them and my cholesterol and my heart problem I had have improved.

Wow! Pollo Campero’s fried chicken cures heart disease! Who knew?

To be honest, I’ve never had Pollo Campero’s fried chicken. I’m a KFC ‘original recipe’ man myself.

In an appearance on MSNBC (4/08/08) CNBC’s business bunny Erin Burnett referred to Wal-Mart and Costco as “bottom feeders” and the beneficiaries of consumer’s trading down due to the failing economy.

Ken V in Texas
Wednesday, May 14 at 08:48 AM

Mmmmm! Yummy!

When I first read this story, my first thought was, “I wonder if Pollo Campero uses some of that same “mechanically separated chicken” that Richard K might find in his hot dogs?

ScrewedbyWal-Mart in Anytown, America
Wednesday, May 14 at 09:10 AM

Jeff: Perhaps you might want to focus on your reading comprehension skills. I SAID I went to the Pollo Campero site first to find info as to the type of oil used for fryibng.No info-andYOU still have not answered the question in YOUR post.Your knowledge of the product should provide the answer-why are YOU blindly avoiding the answer?

ddrb in
Wednesday, May 14 at 10:16 AM

Jeff, does that mean the chicken IS fried in lard?

ddrb in
Wednesday, May 14 at 06:57 PM

Well, until Jeff asserts otherwise,as it is said silence gives consent,one could deduce that that lard is a probable possibilty.

ddrb in
Wednesday, May 21 at 05:35 PM

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