Wal-Mart: Devil or Acceptable Evil?

(Post taken in part from AgencySpy) The National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau has said that Wal-Mart’s ad claims that consumers can save $2,500 a year by shopping at the store is false. The NAD took issue with the statement that the average household saves that much money by shopping at Wal-Mart, and with the inference that such a savings can only occur at Wal-Mart stores and not other retailers. One reason the NAD says Wal-Mart couldn’t make such a claim was because the retailer's operations routinely cause competitors to offer deeper discounts on their merchandise to keep up.

OK...so, Wal-Mart creeps me out a little. The bad fluorescent lighting. The alleged poor treatment of its employees. The insistence on giving me smiley stickers (I have a weird thing with stickers...though I don't have to fear anymore since they retired the Smiley). But at first, I loved this ad campaign. The idea of showing people the wonderful things they can do with their savings...now that's an economic stimulus package that turns me on! Not to mention, for as much as Wal-Mart and other chains impact small, local businesses (as I've seen first-hand in my hometown), they DO create lots of jobs and DO create savings for the consumer. So, I see three options. 1.) Shop at Wal-Mart and enjoy the savings, accepting that it's kinda evil; 2.) Don't shop at Wal-Mart and don't enjoy the savings because it's kinda evil; 3.) Shop at Target. Mmm...Tar-jay.