"You've got mud on your face, you big disgrace."
Queen's timeless lyrics are ringing in the ears of many Edelman executives, who are getting some negative publicity for their own publicity stunt gone wrong. The past few
weeks have revealed that down-home blog "Wal-Marting Across America" - an ongoing tale of two regular folks who spent nights in Wal-Mart parking lots across the country just to
connect with local shoppers - isn't really down-home at all. In fact, the whole operation was actually funded by Wal-Mart's own PR firm - yes, Edelman - and Working Families for
Wal-Mart, an organization founded to counter the anti-Wal-Mart rhetoric of union-funded groups.
True, the PR machine should have been more forthcoming about the initiative, but the real sucker punch lies in the hypocrisy of it all: Edelman Worldwide helped write the Word
of Mouth Marketing Association's (WOMMA) code of conduct, which states: "Honesty of identity: You never obscure your identity." (See an example of Edelman doing it right on page
5.)