walmart advertisement under fire
Wal-Mart apologized for running an advertisement that equated current Arizona zoning ordinances with the Nazi regime. Using a photo of a 1933 book burning in Berlin, the ad read: “Should we let government tell us what we can read? Of course not . . . So why should we allow local government to limit where we shop?” The ad, which ran May 8 in the Arizona Daily Sun, was “reviewed and approved by Wal-Mart, but we did not know what the photo was from.” said Daphne Moore, Wal-Mart’s director of community affairs.
Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, has given about $300,000 to Protect Flagstaff’s Future to help defeat Proposition 100, a local ordinance that would restrict stores of more than 75,000 square feet that devote more than 8 percent of their floor area to groceries. The proposal is one of a number around the country to regulate the size and design of big-box stores, particularly Wal-Marts. The vote on Proposition 100 is scheduled for Tuesday.
The group that created the advertisement said the ad was one of a series opposing Proposition 100. Other ads included a picture of a child praying and a person with duct tape over her mouth. “We wanted people to think about the freedoms we enjoy in America. The intent was wholly honorable and good,” said Chuck Coughlin, president of Highground Inc., a Phoenix consulting company that created the advertisement. “We will not back away from substance of the ads . . . We will apologize for the use of imagery.”
“People make mistakes. They move on,” he said.
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