Wal-Mart is probably the most polarizing corporation in America.
Some people love it for the low prices and the simple fact that you can buy just about anything you want there. Other people have much more negative opinions of the department store conglomerate.
Over the years, Wal-Mart has been criticized for just about everything, from destroying small town businesses to paying workers low wages to building a store two miles away from an ancient pyramid in Mexico.
As all of this has been going on, Wal-Mart has done very little to help its reputation. After all, for the most part, it didn't need to. People still buy items from Wal-Mart in droves, so, no matter how many people protest it, Wal-Mart probably doesn't have to worry about losing customers.
Luckily, that hasn't stopped the corporation from making a welcome change to their policy. On Thursday, Wal-Mart announced a new sustainable agricultural policy that will attempt to increase the income of medium-sized farmers by 10 to 15 percent. Wal-Mart will also be providing training to one million farmers – half of whom will be women – and buying $1 billion worth of produce from these farmers by 2015.
Why is this important?
Well, for one, it's the first time Wal-Mart has shown something resembling a conscience. No matter how many people ripped it to shreds for its poor treatment of employees and elimination of small business owners, it did nothing to change that perception. As long as the masses were still coming in to buy cheap merchandise, Wal-Mart didn't seem to care that it was perceived as evil.
Wal-Mart has effectively changed that with this new plan. For the first time ever it is reaching out to small businesses and trying to make life better for the "little man." It doesn't fix all of the problems, but it does show that Wal-Mart isn't entirely heartless and evil. This could do wonders for improving the company's reputation.
Many people simply refuse to shop at Wal-Mart due to its problematic promises. Among them is my mother, who has steadfastly avoided it ever since it popped up in Cheektowaga a while back. She prefers to shop at the Target or K-Mart stores that also populate that stretch of Walden Avenue.
Maybe now that Wal-Mart is making an attempt to help struggling farmers and using its standing in the industry to help those who can't help themselves, people like my mother will have a more favorable view.
I suspect she's not the only person to boycott Wal-Mart, and if the company sends out the message that it is on the side of small businesses, it could get a lot of those people to start shopping there. As a result, their already large empire would expand.
The corporation is still far from perfect. Its hiring practices still frequently come into question, and not everyone will be able to look past that. Still, for a corporation widely known as being evil, this is an excellent start.
