Wal-Mart Edelman Marketing Campaign. Ethical?

Alex Allard

The Edelman and Wal-Mart marketing scandal brought unethical marketing practices

into the public view. There are countless different forms of marketing campaigns that are used

for a number of different reasons. This particular marketing campaign, in my opinion, is not an

ethical one for a number of reasons. First, there are issues with the fact that the two “retired old

people” are actually on Edelman's payroll. Second, there is the fact that the entire trip is

sponsored Wal-Marts “grassroots” organization that again is completely staffed by Edelman

employees. Thirdly, there is the fact that an outside practitioner justified the approach made by

the two organizations by mentioning that other organizations run similar marketing campaigns

all the time.

Perhaps the main ethical issue that surrounds this marketing campaign is the fact that

the two “elderly retired couple” are in fact employees of Edelman and Wal-Mart who were hired

to pretend to be something they are not. By not disclosing the true identities of the road trip

participants the companies are leading their customers and viewers of their blog to believe one

thing when the truth is another. Misleading customers is never in good practice when it comes

to ethics, no matter how or what the outcome is. By knowing the truth and understanding

everything going into the marketing campaign it allows customers to form real opinions without

their thought process being hindered by facts they didn’t know about. If Edelman and Wal-Mart

had been forthright about who the blog participants were they may have even had more

success in their campaign. They also may have gained a positive public reputation based on

their quality ethical demeanor.

Second, there is the fact that the entire RV trip was sponsored and paid for by a

Wal-Mart grassroots organization that is again completely staffed by Edelman employees. A

grassroots organization is all about using a certain community or location in order to affect
change whether it’s political change or marketing change. But, the main purpose of this

marketing campaign is to show the quality of service around the country not just in a single

community. Therefore, it is unethical for a grassroots organization to fund a campaign that is on

such a large scale. Also, there is the fact that the entire grassroots organization is staffed by

Edelman employees. That could prove to be unethical too considering that the organization is

owned by Wal-Mart.

Third, there is the statement made by the practitioner who was outside the organization.

The practitioner talked about how the campaign could be considered ethical simply because

other organizations had run similar ones. This statement simply is not true. Ethics is not about

what all other organizations do or what is best for the company. Ethics is about doing the right

thing no matter the outcome. Therefore, the argument being made by the outside practitioner is

false do to their misunderstanding of the definition of ethics.

Overall, I don’t think the marketing campaign put forth by Wal-Mart and Edelman was an

ethical one and I think they could have done much better. The fact that they lied to their

consumers in the hope of gaining more business was not ethical along with several other

reasons.