The essay by Jeffrey Goldberg, "Selling Wal-Mart, Can the company co-opt liberals?" tells the story of big business public relations spin. The fictional story that Chris Buckley tells in the movie "Thank you for Smoking" is the real life story of Wal-Mart and the real Leslie Dach who is the executive vice president for Wal-Mart corporate affairs and government relations office.
Goldberg writes an in depth report about how Wal-Mart is trying to "scrub its muddied image" by hiring a people with "ethical ambidexterity" such as Leslie Dach, who has had professional as well as personal association with environmentalism and democratic causes. His investigation and visit to Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas give you a very good picture of the immense economic muscle that Wal-Mart wields and the ominous corporate culture that dominates it.
Regardless of the PR spin anyone could put on this liaison between an environmentally conscious democratic public relations man and Wal-Mart, it is always about money in the end. Morality has nothing to do with it.
Goldberg, Jeffrey. “Selling Wal-Mart –Can the company co-opt liberals?” The New Yorker 2 April 2007, 28 February 2008 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/02/070402fa_fact_goldberg
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