Just my 2 cents.

That’s a great possibility… there certainly are people who wouldn’t change their minds re: Wal-mart— and yet there are also people who are willing to revised their opinions about Wal-mart, given the opportunities. Wal-mart’s progress across different reputation polls shows that people are willing to revise their opinions. All they’d need to do, for me, in this case, was indicate that they were listening, not that they’d turned on their autoresponse PR option.

I think that there is more to it, though, than having more people like you.

Wal-mart’s challenge is to (continue to) grow into a better community member and a better corporate citizen. To do this, they need to listen to valid concerns from other members of their community (like me and other Girl Scout fans). I really think this issue w/ the question of competing with Girl Scouts is an opportunity for Walmart to engage… and engagement in public conversation in what’s right/best for all of us, well, isn’t that the epitome of good citizenship behavior?

Thanks so much for adding #7, and your thoughts, to the conversation. I’ll keep musing on this one Ike.

cvh

You didn’t mention another possibility:

#7: Walmart has weighed the options, and there’s little to be gained by engaging certain segments of the public.

Call me a heretic, but if the people taking the biggest slings and shots at your corporate image are A) the least likely to have liked you anyway, or B) not inclined to be budged from their strident opinions — then there’s no reason to step forth into engagement. All it would do is add fuel.

Yes, you would like to hear from them. Is it really because they can say anything that will give you pause? Or would they just be adding fuel and oxygen to an existing fire?