Exactly a week after Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) announced a new flexible-hours system for their employees, today it announced a new ad campaign to improve its image and defend its reputation.

The new flexible-hours system that was announced last Monday is a system that supposedly should take into account how many employees are needed depending on the amount of customers in the store. My colleagues have denounced this flexible shift system. It is bad for employees, they said, as it treats them like inventory, or makes them be "on-call," while, of course, paying them the same salaries.

Now, this national ad-campaign that is to begin today, aims to paint Wal-Mart as a fair and good employer as well as a positive influence on communities. It takes its case directly to the public in what many call a defensive stance.

WakeUpWalMart.com, the union-funded group, believes this campaign from Wal-Mart is a direct result of its own effort to make the public aware of Wal-Mart's practices. The group believes this has hurt Wal-Mart's bottom line as proven by its lower sales this holiday season and the reaction from Wal-Mart.

I don't know if I would go so far as to believe Wal-Mart's reputation has affected its bottom line yet, but I sure find the timing of the campaign ironic. It seems some companies always believe that spilling money on ads will fix the things that need fixing instead of actually addressing the problems.