{"id":3308,"date":"2012-04-11T23:40:12","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T06:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/?p=3308"},"modified":"2012-04-13T14:26:23","modified_gmt":"2012-04-13T21:26:23","slug":"what-can-walmart-learn-from-whole-foods-about-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/what-can-walmart-learn-from-whole-foods-about-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"What Can Walmart Learn From Whole Foods About Meaning?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Help<\/a>
Whole Foods Whole Planet Foundation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a kid, I remember learning the expression \u201cOne Day at a Time\u201d from a sitcom of the same name. Created by Norman Lear, the half-hour \u201cdramedy\u201d that\u00a0aired from 1975 to 1984\u00a0starred the future Mrs. Eddie Van Halen<\/a>. It explored and sometimes found the lighter side of being a single bell-bottom clad mother raising two daughters.<\/p>\n

Billed then as \u201csecond wave feminism,\u201d today most business owners \u2013 especially those that sell groceries, clothing and household goods \u2013 know that single parents make up a huge portion of the consumer base in North America and Europe.<\/p>\n

In the same way that modern wisdom and bumper stickers advise people to take life \u201cone day at a time,\u201d The Dragonfly Effect suggests that large corporations looking to reframe their brand reputation around greater meaning and social responsibility take their social engagement strategy \u201cone wing at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0Walmart, the retailer heard round the world\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2011 as in 2010, Walmart topped the Fortune 500 rankings<\/a>, From the first Walton’s Five and Dime <\/a>in Bentonville, Ark. to the international brand-heard-round-the-world today, these two corporate hallmarks have remained: low prices and versatility.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most interesting thing you’ll notice when reading about Walmart is the spirited good versus evil debate that surrounds it. On the one hand, you have critics who can only see the ills caused by a Goliath. On the other, you find what appear to be real testaments of homeless youth and struggling heads of household recounting how Walmart helped them get enough to eat. You also hear stories of unskilled laborers and senior citizens who brought home an income thanks to the retailer.<\/p>\n

So, why don\u2019t we hear more about corporate social responsibility and Walmart<\/a>? Among Walmart\u2019s accolades in the U.S. are efforts toward diversity in the workplace. It has been recognized for environmental sustainability in Brazil, receives widespread admiration from employees and is considered a \u201cgreen\u201d company in China.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Walmart believes that their actions will speak for themselves. Perhaps they are hesitant to to risk a greenwashing or goodwashing backlash. Whatever the reason, their good efforts are not affecting their brand perception as much as their sheer bigness is.<\/p>\n

For Walmart, the answer may be as simple as this: It\u2019s time to go back to wing one<\/a> and focus on bringing its sustainability and humanitarian efforts to light through social media. Because whether people like to hear it or not, Walmart demonstrates leadership in more ways than retail sales. Hearing about it from a friend rather than a press release or an ad, may help overcome some negative biases.<\/p>\n

Why people feel good about Whole Foods<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Visit the Whole Foods in Folsom, Calif. on a trip back from Lake Tahoe, and you\u2019ll find a coffee bar located at one entrance, an outdoor beer garten hosting local musicians and small celebrities near the other. However, I see neither of these features at a nearby Whole Foods in San Francisco situated between Peet\u2019s Coffee and a freeway.<\/p>\n

I recently learned that each Whole Foods store layout is approached individually, carefully planned, tested, and (sometimes) reorganized after testing to best suit the needs of its customers.<\/p>\n

One thing you can count on at any Whole Foods: If you bring your own bags to the checkout counter, you can donate that nickel or dime saved by the grocer to a local, national or international charity. These monies fund schools and hunger alleviation programs. These are causes any parent can get behind.<\/p>\n

Participation in this small example of corporate social responsibility at Whole Foods<\/a>\u00a0is available to every customer who remembers to bring his or her own shopping bags, and it serves as a reminder even to those who do not. Explore the company\u2019s \u00a0values, and you\u2019ll find their programs include all types of community involvement and social giving, including loans for small local\u00a0produce\u00a0growers, seafood sustainability and the labeling of genetically modified foods (GMOs). It\u2019s also listed as one of Fortune’s best companies to work for<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Focus on corporate social responsibility and take flight <\/strong><\/h2>\n

An excellent example of Wing One of the Dragonfly Effect<\/a>, the Whole Foods bag donation program also provides an actionable lesson for Walmart: Focus on how to HATCH<\/a> a humanistic social giving program that touches all customers and offers them the opportunity to join the effort in the stores. As with Whole Foods, an excellent place to start is at the checkout line. A great place to spread the word is on the social web.<\/p>\n

How does your brand or product demonstrate corporate social responsibility? Have you tested the effectiveness of your community programs and seen how well they engage with consumers?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s keep the conversation going.\u00a0Please help advance the state of responsible business and your organization’s successes and challenges while connecting your brand with the things you stand for<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a kid, I remember learning the expression \u201cOne Day at a Time\u201d from a sitcom of the same name. Created by Norman Lear, the half-hour \u201cdramedy\u201d that\u00a0aired from 1975 to 1984\u00a0starred the future Mrs. Eddie Van Halen. It explored and sometimes found the lighter side of being a single bell-bottom clad mother raising two … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What Can Walmart Learn From Whole Foods About Meaning?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32,266],"tags":[262,265,263,264],"class_list":["post-3308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brand","category-focus-2","tag-corporate-social-responsibility","tag-csr","tag-walmart","tag-whole-foods"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BBCq-Rm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3308"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3335,"href":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions\/3335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dragonflyeffect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}