Human Disorder

Wal-mart, a global leader in consumer goods, prides itself on being a superstore. That is, a place where one can buy anything and everything. Why, then, do so many communities protest their arrival or work to barring them from the community altogether?

The Backlash

In North Gainesville, Florida, residents stood on sidewalks and assembled in the rain to rally against the store coming to their city. Many residents have expressed a desire to keep the “mom and pop” stores viable in the community and feel that a big box store like Wal-mart would likely shut them down. They don’t believe Wal-mart can bring economic success to a community that has seen very little upside since 2008.

Notorious

Wal-mart is notorious for annexing properties and inserting themselves in the middle of cities for convenient access to the surrounding suburbs. With this type of no fear attitude, Wal-mart has become not only a leading company in the United States, but they now make more money globally than they do domestically.

Many are worried they won’t offer competitive wages or cost of living increases. Google “Wal-mart protest,” and you’re bound to find a number of anti-Wal-mart examples throughout the nation. One of the arguments against Wal-mart is that many have found that the company really doesn’t bring true economic development to the areas with which they build. To make money, researchers have argued that the region make things cheaper to draw more people rather than use that concept in just one store. It has to be a community effort.

In the end, Wal-mart is seeing a lot of negative criticism because of its success overseas. They used to tout themselves as being strictly midwest America and since the economic bubble burst, little has been used in Wal-mart’s public relations campaign to strengthen their American roots.