Nice words, but show me some actual changes first, before touting Wal-Mart's green credentials. As the cliche goes, talk is cheaper than an Arkansas hooker. Err, something like that.
In a show of force no government likely could pull off, Wal-Mart Stores CEO Lee Scott summoned 250 CEOs to a Rogers, Ark., convention center Oct. 10 to outline his plans to hold them accountable for their "carbon footprints" and scrutinize away their excess packaging.
[From Why Wal-Mart Has More Green Clout Than Anyone - Advertising Age - News]
However, if Lee Scott is serious about holding Wal-Mart's suppliers to a higher standard, good for Wal-Mart. I guess he won't be going to any cocktail parties at the Cheney's mansion anytime soon.
Wal-Mart, on the other hand, has morphed into something else -- a sort of privatized Environmental Protection Agency, only with a lot more clout. The EPA can levy a seven-figure fine; Wal-Mart can wipe out more than a quarter of a business in one fell swoop, as Mr. Scott reminded his audience in a not-so-subtle exercise in passive-aggressive environmental regulation.
Wal-Mart's environmental scorecards are voluntary -- for now. But Mr. Scott made clear there's a stick coming to supplement the carrot.
"Two or three years from now," he said, Wal-Mart merchandising executives "are going to have to make choices." Marketers "who haven't done anything, who have products that really aren't very good for the environment," may lose access to Wal-Mart's advertising circulars, end caps or front-of-store displays, he said. That's if Wal-Mart is convinced consumers really want the products. If not, it just won't carry them.
That threat, however veiled, has Wal-Mart's suppliers lining up to drink the green Kool-Aid.
Kool-aid, yes, in other words, some nutty policy to get favorable press, somehow involving Edelman. I guess Jack Neff of AdAge doesn't think much of environmentalism as corporate policy.
