When Your Idea of a Leader in Social Change is Walmart …
Today’s WTAF moment reading the news (from the Oct. 11, ’22 edition of 1440): “PayPal, Alibaba, and Walmart top Fortune’s annual Change the World list of companies combining profit and purpose.”
This was such a moment of “OMG seriously” it just seemed to demand some kind of pointing and gawking.
According to this news release, the top factors for determining a company’s “positive social impact through activities that are part of their core business strategy” are “social impact,” “business results” (which mostly means profitability and added shareholder value), and “innovation.”
What they apparently do not consider: whether the social harm done by these companies outweighs the good. Not sure how else Walmart, byword for destruction of local economies, forcing people into crappy jobs no one should have to take, and flooding markets with sweatshop-made, landfill-destined, pollutant-laden products that rapidly wear out or break, yeah, not sure how else that Walmart could have been chosen for recognition as one of the top 3 companies having “a positive social impact.” I guess they mean “positive for shareholders.”
Surely this is some kind of a sign. Of what? Of how far out of touch with reality and human values our leaders of commerce are. And considering that they are the ones pulling the strings of our politicians, this is indeed a concerning situation.
There may not be anything that the average person needs to try to do about this directly. Indirectly, we can continue to support movements and trends which present an alternative to the current system. And it is also important simply to look at what is happening, to try to understand objectively and articulate clearly what is disturbing about the actions of people in power today.
P.S. I’m not trying to let PayPal and Alibaba off the hook, I just focused on Walmart because WTAF. Walmart?!?
