Reply to Peter at "Writing on the Wal"
If you seek a five forces analysis of Wal-Mart, please try this page.
In a post entitled "Why Can’t Edelman Manage the Blogosphere?" over at "Writing on the Wal" (a much better name, by the way, than the original "No Cleveland Wal-Mart" ) Peter offers a correction to something I wrote in my "Circling" post a few days back. At the very bottom of the post I had the following disclaimer:
Note: Like many bloggers I get occasionally get email from employees of Edelman about articles written about Wal-Mart. I learned about this article in another way- by way of a "google alert" for news stories about Wal-Mart.
Here's what Peter had to say about that:
I hate to correct you Starling, but it’s not that “many bloggers” get e-mail from Edelman, it’s “many PRO-WAL-MART bloggers” get e-mail from Edelman. Edelman doesn’t want to discuss anything with us here at the Writing on the Wal. They just want to plant stories that make their client look good and, as Bruni implies, you can’t manage a debate if you only talk to one side.
Here's the comment I left on Peter's blog:
First let me say thanks for reading that far down into my post. That means I have at least one person who read (it all the way through) ! As for the substance of your remarks…point taken. I don’t know who gets emails from Edelman so I couldn’t feel confident to assert that only pro-Wal-Mart bloggers get them. Now that fact wouldn’t surprise me if I found it to be true. And if you ask me what I believe, I'd say “that’s what I believe to be true.” But since I didn’t know for sure, I refrained from assuming on this specific point. I think I probably do enough assuming as it is, don’t you? ;-)
And to that I'll add this:
OK, so Edelman doesn't talk to you all. Fine. That's their choice. But just so you know, I plan to relaunch the Carnival of Wal-Mart here very soon. Anything you have to say that is thoughtfully composed - and everything I have seen from your site so far meets that description- will be welcomed in the Carnival. You needn't agree with me to be part of what little part of "the debate" takes place here. It's a given that we have disagreements on many things, but I appreciate that you are motivated by sound principles (though not ones I necessarily share) and that you can articulate your positions clearly. Again, your best original contributions will always be welcomed here.
File Under: Wal-Mart

Comments
Your comments on Edelman were fascinating. The AdAge piece is at adage.com/article?article_id=111559
Posted by: JamesBruni | September 2, 2006 1:21 AM