Wal-Mart turns to infomercials to boost its reputation

In what may be a first, a company is buying air-time to show infomercials without the intent of really selling us anything. The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is buying late night airtime on cable stations like Lifetime and USA Networks to show infomercials, basically with the intent of convincing employees and consumers that the company really isn't so bad after all.

They've pulled out all the stops. You get to hear from Wal-Mart workers serving in the military, watch footage from the company American Idol-like competition for employees, hear about the company's organic initiatives, and even listen to singer Beyonce talk about how much she "loves" Wal-Mart.

If this seems bizarre, it is. It's unheard of, but it might not be such a bad idea. It will show the company's employees that they want to do something about their reputation, and may even win over a few consumers who are on the fence about the company. A Wal-Mart spokesman said that the infomercials weren't that expensive, and that this is seen as a kind of low-risk gamble.

This seems smart. Since there is so much coverage of Wal-Mart in the media (BloggingStocks's Brian White has an excellent Wal-Mart Weekly feature on the company), much of it highly negative, it seems right for Wal-Mart to air its side of the story.

It would be pretty exciting if this catches on -- Will anyone facing negative press start buying airtime to defend themselves? Could Paris Hilton film infomercials of herself teaching chess to her fellow inmates to win over public opinion?