Richard Tafoya
Oct 27th, 2006, 08:42 PM
NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/business/28cnd-walmart.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin
After infuriating Canada’s ambassador to the United States and offending black voters in Tennessee, a Republican television commercial mocking Representative Harold E. Ford has become a political liability for an unlikely third party: Wal-Mart.
Under pressure from black leaders and union groups, the nation’s largest retailer said last night that it had cut ties with a prominent Republican strategist who helped create the provocative advertisement.
The strategist, Terry Nelson, was hired by Wal-Mart in 2005 to help burnish the company’s image after a wave of attacks from organized labor and liberal groups.
Since Mr. Nelson’s affiliation with the Ford commercial became public this week, Jesse Jackson has demanded that Wal-Mart fire him and a union group has threatened to run advertisements in Tennessee linking the company to the commercial.
In the commercial, actors in mock interviews speak sarcastically about Mr. Ford and his candidacy for the Senate seat in Tennessee. In a scene that black leaders say has racial overtones, a white actress says she met Mr. Ford, who is black, at a “Playboy party.” “Harold, call me,” she says coyly.
The letter signed by Mr. Jackson, and distributed by the union-backed group WakeUpWal-Mart.com, stated, “If Wal-Mart is truly interested in changing for the better, we implore you to send a message to all Americans, especially African-Americans, that Wal-Mart will not do business with consultants who use race as a political tool to divide our nation.”
Wal-Mart, in a statement, said that Mr. Nelson’s Washington consulting firm, Crosslink Strategy Group, had “sent a letter to Wal-Mart ending its working relationship with our company. We believe this is the right course of action.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/business/28cnd-walmart.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin
After infuriating Canada’s ambassador to the United States and offending black voters in Tennessee, a Republican television commercial mocking Representative Harold E. Ford has become a political liability for an unlikely third party: Wal-Mart.
Under pressure from black leaders and union groups, the nation’s largest retailer said last night that it had cut ties with a prominent Republican strategist who helped create the provocative advertisement.
The strategist, Terry Nelson, was hired by Wal-Mart in 2005 to help burnish the company’s image after a wave of attacks from organized labor and liberal groups.
Since Mr. Nelson’s affiliation with the Ford commercial became public this week, Jesse Jackson has demanded that Wal-Mart fire him and a union group has threatened to run advertisements in Tennessee linking the company to the commercial.
In the commercial, actors in mock interviews speak sarcastically about Mr. Ford and his candidacy for the Senate seat in Tennessee. In a scene that black leaders say has racial overtones, a white actress says she met Mr. Ford, who is black, at a “Playboy party.” “Harold, call me,” she says coyly.
The letter signed by Mr. Jackson, and distributed by the union-backed group WakeUpWal-Mart.com, stated, “If Wal-Mart is truly interested in changing for the better, we implore you to send a message to all Americans, especially African-Americans, that Wal-Mart will not do business with consultants who use race as a political tool to divide our nation.”
Wal-Mart, in a statement, said that Mr. Nelson’s Washington consulting firm, Crosslink Strategy Group, had “sent a letter to Wal-Mart ending its working relationship with our company. We believe this is the right course of action.”