Working Families for Walmart is an advocacy group formed by Walmart and the Edelman public relations firm on December 20, 2005. It has been used to praise Wal-Mart in a show of opposition to union-funded groups such as Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch. The group is financially supported by Wal-Mart and is headquartered in Edelman’s Washington, D.C. office. It is not organized as a non-profit, and is not required to disclose its sources of funding.
Critics have accused Wal-Mart of leaving the impression that Working Families for Walmart is a spontaneous grass-roots organization, without fully disclosing its financial reliance upon Wal-Mart. The group's web site does not reveal its connection to Wal-Mart or Edelman. Its home page features a blog and with a link stating that the bloggers are employees of Edelman; however, no other mention is made of Edelman on the site. This has led to accusations of Walmart being engaged in deceit and astroturfing. For example, Wal-Mart Watch has stated, “Working Families for Wal-Mart is not a lobbying group or a 501(c)3 (non-profit), but is a sock puppet for Edelman, Walmart’s public relations firm…”.
Read more about Working Families For Walmart: Mission Statement
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