Wal-Mart should bring Julie Roehm back

Wall-Mart's (NYSE: WMT) Julie Roehm scandal just won't seem to go away. Every time it finally seems like it's out of the headlines, it comes roaring back in an even more scandalous incarnation. This time, Roehm is accusing CEO Lee Scott and other top executives of violating the company's code of ethics. She claims that they accepted all kinds of perks from suppliers and engaged in inappropriate relationships.

Of course Wal-Mart fired back denying the allegations. Financier Irwin Jacobs, whose companies do business with Wal-Mart, denied Roehm's suggestions that his relationship with Scott had been too personal and that it had violated the company's code of ethics. However many have been questioning Jacobs' integrity since his days as a corporate raider in the 1980's, and his apparently close relationship with Mr. Scott may raise eyebrows -- guilt by association for both of them.

It will be interesting to see how this story plays out. Ms. Roehm's allegations continue to get more serious and, regardless of whether they're true, they've diverted a lot of the company's attention away from the serious issues that the company is facing.

This got me to thinking: Wal-Mart has been struggling to match Target's (NYSE: TGT) success in fashion, partly because it couldn't convey an edgy image to entice fashionistas. So here's an idea: Given Julie Roehm's relationship with a former colleague, and the salacious details surrounding it that have emerged in the media, maybe Wal-Mart should bring her back to spice things up on the fashion front. As Sarah Gilbert noted, Julie Roehm was too sexy to succeed as an advertising executive at Wal-Mart. But perhaps she's just sexy enough to make the company's clothing hip.