Welcome to the 66th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions, and just a bit of everything else when it comes to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

This week, I'll be examining Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and the reputation the world's largest retailer has. Wal-Mart's roots from the backyard of a small Arkansas town into the world's largest company in less then five decades is nothing short of amazing -- like it or not.

But, with such rapid growth, how has the company's reputation fared during this journey? Harris Interactive's latest "Reputations of the Most Visible Companies" (PDF download) sheds a little light on this area. Although Wal-Mart is currently experiencing a decent period of sales and profit (due to customers flocking to low prices), the company still has a tarnished image in much of the world. Is it deserved? You be that judge.

The biggest target on the biggest back

It's bound to happen. Wal-Mart, just like Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), is the perfect target for legions of critics. It's huge, exerts tons of power of its suppliers and in turn has immense power over its customers. Even in a free country and capitalist society where consumer choice reigns, the consumer also must choose de facto standards for certain things. In the realm of computers, I would argue that it's hard for a normal consumer to simply purchase a PC without Microsoft's Windows operating system already installed. Bang -- de facto standard in place.

How about grocery shopping and general merchandise shopping? There are more competitors here due to the commodity status of most general merchandise items. Milk, bread, flat-screen televisions, face cream, spray starch, and baby wipes can be picked up from a litany of grocery stores and discount stores, from Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) to Dollar General to Wal-Mart to Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT).

What makes a consumer choose Wal-Mart over all the rest, in the age of free choice? Sheer location amount? The fact that most Wal-Mart locations are "one stop shops" for just about everything? Something else? Wal-Mart's time and time again creed has been to save the customer money at all costs. After the recent "Always Low Prices," the retailer changed its corporate tagline to "Save Money. Live Better," which implied that it helps the lives of its customers by passing along the best prices possible. That, among many other strategies, made Wal-Mart into what it is today, but at the same time during all this growth, it found many arrow-shooters that constantly shot projectiles into the large target on Wal-Mart's back.

Where Wal-Mart ranks in the U.S. regarding its reputation

One would think that Wal-Mart's prowess in the U.S. market and its enormous growth in the last two decades would have given it a wide customer appeal that would be second to none, regardless of the critic community that has developed. Not true -- Harris Interactive states that Wal-Mart is ranked at #44 in the list, behind such notable names like Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) at #1, Toyota Motor Co. (NYSE: TM) at #15 and Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) at #30.

In the six areas measured by the report:

• Emotional appeal
• Financial performance
• Products and services
• Social responsibility
• Vision and leadership
• Workplace environment

Wal-Mart didn't score in the top five for any of those categories. And this is the world's largest company by revenues where its customers have made it what it is by consistently growing their shopping at the retailer's stores. How can it be? Wal-Mart was ranked #40 in 2006, and slid to #44 in 2007. Last year alone, the retailer saw many pings against it, from a large female employee discrimination suit to outcries of executive compensation to no movement at all in its stock price for its shareholders. 2008 has been a different story from a financial perspective, however.

Most Americans surveyed for this report has a pessimistic view of large corporations in general. Stating that the general corporation reputation is "not good or terrible," the views of the average American consumer are at full play here. From the financial credit market collapse to the housing market scandals to the energy costs that have made gas prices higher than in a generation, the consumer is feeling pummeled. Add that to the ludicrous amount of corporate leadership making millions of dollars during all this while the consumer constantly gets stiffed and it's easy to see why they're quite displeased. But all in all, Wal-Mart was geared to help this exact customer contingent by actually controlling inflation in every way it could for them. Yet, the retailer's reputation didn't grow at all -- but slipped last year.

Why Wal-Mart gets a black eye every time it turns around

The Harris Interactive report states that there is a direct relationship with a company's public reputation and the likelihood of purchasing or recommending a company's products or service. In other words, we can infer that Wal-Mart may have had an even better 2007 (which did see profits and decent performance) if its public reputation had been better managed.

I've said this before: Wal-Mart is in dire need of an army to manage its reputation all the time. A few well-placed PR stunts won't cut it. If Wal-Mart is indeed becoming the "greenest retailer" on the planet and is helping environmental sustainability, let the world and all customers constantly know -- for months on end until it's drilled into everyone's head. That's just an example. Surely Wal-Mart has contracted to some form to manage its global reputation, segmented down into individual markets by the customer base inside those markets. If not, well, Wal-Mart's position as #44 in 2007 is reflective of its non-effort here.

But then again, 18% of those contacted for the study said they would "recommend" Wal-Mart's stock as in investment for the future. Fickle are those customers, yes? They seem to not have the highest opinion about the retailer, yet almost one-fifth of them would recommend the company's shares as a future investment. In addition, Wal-Mart came in at #1 on the report in terms of customers being "very familiar with the company." There is a Wal-Mart in almost every corner of America and it's the nation's largest retailer and company -- everyone should be intimately familiar with the retailer if nothing else.

But then again -- almost everyone contacted was "very familiar" with Wal-Mart, but gave it poor marks for having a shiny reputation. There's the disconnect. In terms of "public sincerity" Wal-Mart ranked #47 on the list. So, while customers know all about Wal-Mart and continue shopping in droves at its locations, the amount of trust consumers have about the retailer is not that stellar at all. Interesting food for thought here.

Join me back here this time next week for another edition of The Wal-Mart Weekly. Until then, have a great week!