Walmart Critics

In spite of Walmart's outstanding achievements and tremendous benefits to the public, a determined group of Walmart critics has appeared on the scene. These people have made it their life's mission to smear and obstruct Walmart at every turn, many of them behaving with the same passion that one might expect from religious fanatics. The critics are utterly ignorant of economics, yet they pretend to be authorities on the subject, and loudly proclaim such things as: "Walmart causes unemployment," "Walmart lowers wages," and "Walmart reduces access to healthcare." In addition to these alleged economic sins, they say: "Walmart destroys communities," "Walmart treats its female employees unfairly," "Walmart causes greedy consumerism," "Walmart desecrates sacred ground." To listen to these critics, one might think that Walmart was the source of all evil.




Every time Walmart tries to open up a new store, there is a good chance that these anti-Walmart crusaders will be there to interfere, attempting to persuade zoning boards and local governments to intervene and make it impossible for Walmart to operate. They've created websites such as Wakeupwalmart.com and Walmartwatch.com that provide "public education" on their incorrect version of the economic effects of Walmart. They've held anti-Walmart demonstrations, and put out advertisements, books, and movies. They've called for crippling regulation of Walmart, and increased taxes on Walmart. One of their favorite activities is to point to someone who they believe has been, or could be, negatively affected by Walmart's success — no matter how temporarily — misinterpret the meaning of this phenomenon, and proceed to work themselves into a frenzy because they are convinced that this proves that Walmart is destroying the world.



All of their objections are based on profound ignorance of Walmart's actual economic significance, and their behavior is destructive to themselves and everyone else. The huge amount of media attention given to these critics by many willing accomplices has strengthened their negative influence. The critics have succeeded in making themselves impossible to ignore. They have dragged Walmart's good name through the mud, causing the general public to associate Walmart with the endless list of accusations, rather than with the incredible service they provide.



High profile individuals such as Theresa Heinz Kerry, who came very close to being first lady of the United States, have taken public stances in favor of these critics. According to a recent Zogby poll, 56% of Americans now believe that "Walmart is bad for America."



Walmart managers now have a new challenge; not only do they have to run one of the biggest organizations in the world; they have to do it with an army of fools waging a constant war of propaganda against them. They are forced to waste an increasing amount of their time and company's resources defending their highly efficient, very successful, and perfectly legitimate organization against these vicious saboteurs.