NYT: Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in Its PR Campaign

As I wrote here on Sunday night, Michael Barbaro of the New York Times was preparing an article on the relationship between Wal-Mart's PR team and bloggers who had previously written about the company who had then been sent press releases to comment upon. A number of those targeted who had been contacted by Barbaro quickly published pre-emptive mea culpas on their blogs and justified their participation in this behind-the-scenes PR push.

Barbaro's story appears in Tuesday's New York Times. Here are some excerpts:

Brian Pickrell, a blogger, recently posted a note on his Web site attacking state legislation that would force Wal-Mart Stores to spend more on employee health insurance. "All across the country, newspaper editorial boards - no great friends of business - are ripping the bills," he wrote.

Wakeupwalmart.com It was the kind of pro-Wal-Mart comment the giant retailer might write itself. And, in fact, it did.

Several sentences in Mr. Pickrell's Jan. 20 posting - and others from different days - are identical to those written by an employee at one of Wal-Mart's public relations firms and distributed by e-mail to bloggers.

Busted.

Under assault as never before, Wal-Mart is increasingly looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting topics for postings and even inviting them to visit its corporate headquarters.

But the strategy raises questions about what bloggers, who pride themselves on independence, should disclose to readers. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, has been forthright with bloggers about the origins of its communications, and the company and its public relations firm, Edelman, say they do not compensate the bloggers.

It certainly does raise questions and the bloggers involved have not sufficiently answered them.

Speaking of ethics, check out this guy!

When they learned that The New York Times was looking at how they were using information from the retailer, several bloggers posted items challenging The Times's article before it had appeared. One blog, Iowa Voice, run by Mr. Pickrell, pleads for advertisers to buy space on the blog in anticipation of more traffic because of the article.

Oh my goodness. That's kind of like, "Look guys! I'm going to be made a fool of in the NYT! Cash in now."

You can read all about how this Wal-Mart operation works and those involved - who don't exactly come out resembling those happy faces that Wal-Mart is well known for. The only slashing going on won't involve lowering prices. It will involve those egos instead. And so it should.

Sidebar: Neither the NYT nor Mr Barbaro sent me an e-mail to promote this article. I found it the old-fashioned way - all by myself.

Update: Atrios adds his 2 cents to the conversation in his piece, "Much Ado About Nothing" and says, "PR people reach out to me all the time. So what." So what? As I responded to him, I want to know when I'm being fed corporate propaganda - that's what.