Wal-Mart’s Recruited Bloggers Break Word-of-Mouth Ethics Code

Under fire for its less-than-employee-friendly policies, among other reasons, Wal-Mart has apparently been rallying a force of blogger loyalists and mercenaries, supplying them with PR ammunition in hopes of beating back the assault, writes the New York Times (via MarketingVox). Pro-Wal-Mart propaganda produced by public relations firm Edelman has appeared in blogs, often verbatim and without attribution - clearly counter to unwritten rules of civilized blogging behavior and word-of-mouth best-practices.

In what is escalating into an all-out war for the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of the citizenry, Wal-Mart - along with others - is 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,” writes the Times.

Glenn Reynolds, founder of the widely respected, right-leaning Instapundit.com, is quoted as citing a basic tenet of an otherwise unruly blogosphere: “If I reprint something, I say where it came from. A blog is about your voice, it seems to me, not somebody else’s.”

Wal-Mart apparently began working with bloggers in late 2005. “As more and more Americans go to the internet to get information from varied, credible, trusted sources, Wal-Mart is committed to participating in that online conversation,” Mona Williams, a company spokeswoman, is quoted as saying.