Taylor Boyd

July 20, 2015

Paper 3: Audience
Comm 3155

Audience Analysis:
For this essay I will have a primary and a secondary audience. I will reach out to my local
community who are advocates for shopping local, as well as, my secondary audience
being my peers here in the High Country who can be easily influenced by the presence of
a big box stores. The demographics of my two audiences are very different. My primary
Audience would be my hometown and they are already advocates for shopping local and
reducing as much dependency as possible when it comes to big box stores. My other
audience is an audience that has come from many different backgrounds, but has come
together at this central location, Boone. My peers are going to be my most difficult
audience to persuade, because of the convenience and potential lower prices that
corporate stores will have to offer. I know that not everyone will instantly agree with the
choice to shop local, but that hopefully with my own conviction they will be more open
to the idea. I believe that ethically I am bias to my topic, due to where I come from. I may
not be as understanding of the backgrounds that others come from. A counter argument
that I ran into with my essay is that some people come from urban areas that local is not
really an option, so they may not have ever considered the effects of shopping local.

Taylor Boyd
July 20, 2015
Paper 3: Audience
Comm 3155
Shop Local Essay
Everyday we are faced with choices. Some are more simple then others. When we
wake up in the morning we choose what to wear, what to eat or even if we are going to
attend class. We make the majority of our daily choices without really putting too much
thought into them. Just think though what if we considered our daily choices just a little
bit more. What if we thought more about where we were going to pick up our groceries
for the week or where we are going to go get our tools for the next home project? What if
when we are making these small choices we started to consider how our choices of where
to shop affect our town? If you had the opportunity to help preserve your town and keep
it alive with small business would you? I believe yes, yes you would. There are many
ways to help keep your town alive and still keep your convenience as well. For example:
What if town would impose a law that requires the big box stores in the area to
give a certain percentage of their revenue back to the community?
Information Coming straight from the Wal-Mart website states that in 2011, the Wal-Mart
Foundation gave about $100 million in cash and in-kind contributions around the world.
This includes $800 million in cash and in-kind gifts in the United States and $85 million
in cash and in-kind gifts in international markets. In addition, Wal-Mart associates
volunteered more than 1 million hours that resulted in more than $13 million in grants to
local nonprofits. This does sound like a super awesome thing they are doing, but
according to Fortune 500 Wal-Mart brought 120 billion dollars in 2011. Now I dont
know about you but that makes that 100 million seem very small. Responsible Wealths
Chuck Collins says, Wal-Mart could pay a living wage. They could use their charitable

Taylor Boyd
July 20, 2015
Paper 3: Audience
Comm 3155
dollars not to undermine public education but to boost educational opportunity. They
could become major contributors to social good. But theyre not. Also with the idea of
trying to make them give back we run into a legality issue, You cannot force a company
to give portions of their revenue to towns in need. A small town in Kentucky had tried
and similar plan and yet it had backed fired on them due to the fact they didnt even have
to money within their town budget to fight the cooperate company.
Well what if the towns and smaller city areas with thriving ma and pa shops set up
an order that stated on an X amount of big box stores can be within a certain amount
within a certain district. For example their cant be more then 2 Wal-Marts in a county
depending the size of the country. Wal-Mart stores are often the size of four or five
football fields - huge in scale compared to many of the small communities that they
neighbor. They are criticized for deserting stores that under-perform, according to PBS
article Empty Boxes, Wal-Mart has left behind more than 25 million square feet of
unoccupied space across the country stated in May 2000. The company claims it tries to
sell these properties, but the only potential buyers are other big retailers, and Wal-Mart
will not sell real estate to its competitors. In another Kentucky town, an empty Wal-Mart
was torn down at the taxpayers' expense. Wal-Mart places their stores so close together
that they become their own competition. Once everybody else is wiped out, then they're
free to thin out their stores. Wal-Mart has 390 empty stores on the market today. This is a
company that has changed stores as casually as you and I change shoes, Al Norman
states.
I am not trying to completely ruin the idea of people going to Wal-Mart because
that would make me a hypocrite, I do go to Wal-Mart if it is eleven at night and I need

Taylor Boyd
July 20, 2015
Paper 3: Audience
Comm 3155
printer paper or poster board or anything else you could possibly need afterhours. I know
everyone is guilty of using Wal-Mart as the easy way out. So what if there is another
solution? A solution that does more then just stops people from Wal-Mart shopping but
instead promotes community awareness and togetherness. What if community
encouraged people and had informational sessions on why staying local is good? What if
a community came together and vowed to support one another while gaining knowledge.
There is something like this already in effect in Boone, and it is working wonderfully!
The Local first Campaign is an effort to increase awareness and support of independent,
locally owned businesses in the High Country. High Country Local First writes, they
strive to facilitate healthy, ongoing relationships amongst these key players in our
community so that we can become supportive of one anothers efforts and to keep more
of our money here in the High Country. We provide creative and effective marketing for
businesses through our website and directory, resource sharing and learning, peer to peer
consulting, community network building opportunities and other services to facilitate
strong locally owned businesses and to encourage new ventures within our community.
Think how often in Boone do you see the Buy Local stickers or flyers encouraging you to
attend the famers market every Saturday morning at horn in the west. I know when I am
coming up the mountain I pass two huge billboards encouraging the farmers market and
shopping at the local little thrift shops and produce stands I pass. What is there was
something like this in every town the changes that this could make in any business place
would be positive. This not only keeps money within towns but also promotes an
extremely high community sense of togetherness. This stimulates the economy deeper as
a family of people loving and respecting where they are from. According to one of Wal-

Taylor Boyd
July 20, 2015
Paper 3: Audience
Comm 3155
Marts biggest shareholders Mr. Walton claims to be buying their produce locally to
supply to us, while this sounds like a good proposal this Wal-Mart buying from farmers
will only hurt farmers. By doing this Wal-Mart will be able to control how much they will
pay farmers, then they will begin to tell farmers how much of what to plant where to
plant it and what brand of plant to use. This has happened with many famers that are
enslaved to growing products for companies such as Tyson chickens, Monsanto Soy
beans, and Case Egg farms. More farmers are being sued over what they plant then ever
before, Food Inc. a documentary shows the real behind the scenes stories that big
companies put their farmers and employees through. When all things are thoroughly
analyzed it is being proven in small country towns to avoid supporting the big box stores
all together and come together as a community and support each other.
Overall in order for any of these solutions to be considered successful the town
and its people must have their heart in it. They must want to see the change that is being
offered. Townspeople must be informed and have a true passion for where they from and
where reside. The deeper the connection you have to where your home is the more
important the issue will become. Always keep in mind as Bob Dylan originally sang,
They paved paradise, they put up a parking lot, A big hotel, a boutique, and a swinging
hot spot. Don't it always go to show You'll never know what you got till it's gone? we
will never be able to get back our small town paradise when it has been paved over and
dominated by big box stores.

Taylor Boyd
July 20, 2015
Paper 3: Audience
Comm 3155
Works Cited:
Baribeau, Simone. "Pulled Under By Plastic." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 04
July 2008. Web. Nov. 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/07/03/AR2008070303456.html?sid=ST2008070303747>

Barowitz,Zachary."TheTop10ReasonsNOTtoBuyLocal."TheBollard.20Apr.
2009.Web.18July2015.
Caine,Erik."IfYouBuyLocalYou'llHaveLessMoneytoSpendLocally."Forbes.
ForbesMagazine,26Nov.2014.Web.18July2015.
Chirstmas,Jimmy."DontWorryAboutBuyingLocal|TheDollarVigilante."The
DollarVigilante.18Dec.2013.Web.20July2015.
"Initiatives." Top 10 Reasons to Support Locally Owned Businesses. Institute for Local
Self-Reliance, 24 Dec. 2010. Web. Nov. 2012. <http://www.ilsr.org/why-supportlocally-owned-businesses/>.
Mitchell, Joni. "Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi Lyrics." LetsSingIt. N.p., n.d. Web. Nov.
2012. <http://artists.letssingit.com/joni-mitchell-lyrics-big-yellow-taxi-tsgr9wh>.
Murdoch, Cassie. "Big Box Stores Are Ruining Everything and Filling Us All With
Hate." Jezebel. Jezebel, 13 Apr. 2012. Web. Nov. 2012.
<http://jezebel.com/5901634/big-box-stores-are-ruining-everything-and-fillingus-all-with-hate>.

Taylor Boyd
July 20, 2015
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Comm 3155
Saunders, Corinne. "Boone Chamber Promotes Shop Local." Boone Chamber Promotes
Shop Local. High Country Press, 19 Nov. 2009. Web. Nov. 2012.
<http://www.highcountrypress.com/weekly/2009/11-19-09/boone-chamberpromotes-shop-local.htm>.
"Small Business Saturday | November 24, 2012 | SBA.gov." Small Business Saturday |
November 24, 2012 | SBA.gov. Small Business Association, n.d. Web. 30 Nov.
2012. <http://www.sba.gov/saturday>.