I'm using
Wal-Mart as a case study for my PR Administration class again this Maymester, and today two student teams debated Wal-Mart's benefit/harm to communities. To marshall support for his side, Cain Harrelson conducted an informal, overnight Facebook survey of UGA students and asked them to choose as many of the words on this list as they associated with the store.
With just over 100 responding, here's what they had to say:
Generic (66%)
Innovative (11%)
Uncaring (38%)
Customer-Oriented (8%)
Cheap (88%)
Convenient (70%)
Dirty (29%)
Charitable (9%)
Gigantic (74%)
Ugly (31%)
Trendy (1%)
Greedy (26%)
Friendly (8%)
Locally-Oriented (11%)
Responsible (4%)
High Quality (1%)
Environmentally-Minded (2%)
Respectable (8%)
Beneficial (17%)
Hurtful (27%)
Family-Friendly (32%)
Not surprisingly, 80% said they shop there. More surprising to me -- some evidence Cain chose not to use -- 52% say that overall it's beneficial to communities. Yet 97% said they wouldn't work there. Like so
many Americans, these students have mixed feelings about Wal-Mart.