Wal-mart insists "only the small survive"

I was watching tv last night when a commercial for Wal-mart came on and I nearly killed myself laughing. The general gist of the commercial is that Wal-mart is lowering their prices on the majority of items in response to the current economic crunch being faced around the globe. What had me laughing so hard and wondering at the same time who forgot to proof this commercial was the line recited by a manager to an employee "only the small survive."

At best, this can be considered to be a slip of the tongue, as Wal-mart has been hounded for the past while over its tendency to out-compete smaller, locally owned businesses. A google search of "walmart small business" results in over 3.5 million hits, most of which criticize the company for under-pricing their items in order to force the closure of competitors and ensure a monopoly on the market. At worst, this off-hand comment can be seen as antagonistic and arrogant, coming from a company that is so large and successful at establishing itself in areas despite local protests, that Wal-mart comes across as being callous and a bit spiteful.

Wal-mart has been the butt of many jokes, the best of which, in my opinion, was from the Onion in 2005. Lo and behold! PR is actually mentioned! It might be time for Wal-mart to take PR a little more seriously.

Thusfar, only a few people have picked up on the "only the small survive" commercial and written about it, I suspect it's only a matter of time until Wal-mart's corporate image is tarnished a little more with this most recent slip up.

This begs the question: who was asleep at the PR wheel and why didn't anyone notice the iceberg they were sailing towards?