WAKEUPWALMART.COM’S “2006 HOPE FOR THE HOLIDAY’S” CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES FINAL WEEK OF ACTIONS AT WAL-MART STORES
GRASSROOTS ACTIONS PLANNED AT OVER 200 WAL-MART STORES IN 60 CITIES AND 19 STATES
OVER 22,000 SUPPORTERS SIGN PETITION CALLING ON WAL-MART TO “ADOPT A ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY ON CHILD LABOR”
Washington, DC - Starting today, WakeUpWalMart.com, America’s campaign to change Wal-Mart, will begin the final week of grassroots actions as part of its 2006 “Hope for the Holidays” campaign. The final week’s activities, entitled “This Holiday Season, How Could Wal-Mart Do This To Children?” will include over 200 coordinated actions in 19 states.
In the final days before Christmas, supporters of WakeUpWalMart.com will be hand-billing hundreds of Wal-Mart stores across the nation, highlighting Wal-Mart’s troubling anti-family policies which hurt its workers, children, and their families. Grassroots activists, community leaders, and WakeUpWalMart.com supporters will tell Americans to join the group’s national effort to pressure Wal-Mart to adopt a “zero tolerance policy on child labor violations” before Christmas Day. Already, more than 22,000 Americans have signed the petition calling on Wal-Mart to adopt a zero tolerance policy on child labor.
During the actions, supporters in 60 towns and cities, including Crawfordsville, IN; Grand Rapids, MI; Providence, RI; Waterbury, CT; Milwaukee, WI; Salem, MA; Massillon, OH; Stockbridge, GA; Henderson, NV; Elk Grove Village, IL; Catonsville, MD; Philadelphia, PA; Cheyenne, WY; and Grand Junction, CO will be passing out over 102,500 glossy new flyers that inform Wal-Mart consumers about the company’s troubling record of having repeatedly broken child labor laws in America and overseas. The glossy flyer asks the question, “This Holiday Season, How Could Wal-Mart Do This to Children?” and then asks consumers to “Think Before You Shop.”
Also, in the final days before Christmas, WakeUpWalMart.com will continue running its $1 million media campaign. The media campaign is airing in over 43 media markets across the nation and will feature three of the group’s most powerful holiday ads, entitled “Search our Heart,” “1000 years,” and “Never.” In light of Wal-Mart’s immoral business practices, the "Search you Heart" 30 second ad, which was released last week with a joint letter signed by 133 evangelical Christian ministers and an interfaith letter signed by over 68 religious leaders, asks consumers to “search your heart. If these are Wal-Mart’s values, would Jesus Shop at Wal-Mart? Should You?”
In addition, the group will also run one of its most emotional 30-second TV spots entitled “1000 years” that features Wal-Mart Associate Charmaine Givens who in an extraordinarily real and overwhelmingly emotional moment realizes that it will take her over 1,000 years to earn what Wal-Mart’s CEO Lee Scott earned in just one year.
Overall, the six week 2006 “Hope for the Holidays” campaign included over 1,172 grassroots actions (from prayer vigils to rallies to house parties) involving over 5,000 supporters, the distribution of over 400,000 flyers covering 925 Wal-Mart stores, and a $1 million TV ad campaign that targeted 43 media markets nationwide. In total, the 2006 “Hope for the Holidays” campaign was the most ambitious series of coordinated actions launched by WakeUpWalMart.com.
