Wal-Mart does not need to be perfect to be loved like COSTCO.You don't need to be perfect to be loved, you simply have to treat people with kindness. For proof of this look no further than Sam, the world's ugliest dog.
Just in case you don't know what Sam looked like, here he is in all his aesthetic glory:
This picture was taken a few months BEFORE he died in November.
In 2005 Sam won the title "World’s Ugliest Dog" for the third time in a row. He was the Mohammad Ali of the ugly-dog competition - no other canine came close.
Sam's owner, Susie Lockheed, welcomed Sam into her home in 1999 after an animal shelter marked him as un-adoptable. After a while, his imperfections began to endear him to millions of fans.
According to CNN:
"Sam became an international celebrity after winning the ugliest animal contest at the 2003 Sonoma-Marin Fair in California -- a victory he twice repeated. The purebred Chinese crested hairless made appearances on TV in Japan, radio in New Zealand and in Britain's Daily Mirror tabloid, stayed in luxury hotels and met Trump on a talk show set."
To maintain his good relationship with the media, Sam and his owner did not not need a public-relations firm or a war-room to manage bad publicity; what he did have was a heart of gold. By all accounts Sam was a loving pet who was friendly to anyone brave enough to touch him. His neighbor
eulogized him with these words:
"How many ugly, old OR sick dogs have been adopted into loving homes because of you? You have arguably done more to help the K-9 condition than Lassie, Rin Tin Tin, Bengie and all other TV/Movie dogs put together. You and your story have touched the lives of countless millions of people and inspired them to consider something other, than a cute little puppy, and perhaps, maybe even cut down the demand for so many puppy mills. Those are some accomplishments you and your mother can be very proud of! "
I'm writing about Sam's story today to illustrate that you don't need to be perfect to get the public to appreciate you. One's behavior can transcend ugliness, or, conversely, enhance it until immoral behavior becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
For example, everyone knows that Wal-Mart is a retail giant that encourages the outsourcing of US labor to communist China. However, I'm not so naive that I don't understand why they do it: Wal-Mart isn't a charity, it's a business. Outsourcing labor is ugly, but you can't blame Wal-Mart for legal behavior that lowers the bottom line anymore than you could blame Sam the dog for being buck-toothed.
Still, competitive pressure does not excuse Wal-Mart for being so underhanded and petty, that they allegedly
hired security guards to spy on Union organizers. The union-busting policies of Wal-Mart is only one of the many instances where the company behaves like a bully and a brat. If the corporation were a dog, they would be like Paris Hilton's chiwawa: Attractive to Wall Street but spoiled rotten - with no limits on their crass behavior.
Now let's look at look at another retail giant that sells products that were made with cheap labor:
COSTCO. While COSTCO lives with the same economic realities as Wal-Mart, employees are paid a fair wage and the company does it's best to try and be a good corporate citizen.
COSTCO is a profitable company that does not suffer from hoards of angry activists itching to kick them out of their neighborhood, because they show kindness and respect to the communities they work in.
If Wal-Mart executives can't learn from COSTCO's example; perhaps they should ask Susie Lockheed why Sam was so beloved by the public? Nobody is perfect, but if a physically flawed dog can endear itself to the world with kindness, imagine what good behavior from Wal-Mart's management would do to enhance their image and bottom line.
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