WE ARE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE:

A FRAMING ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE PUBLIC RELATIONS AND THEIR

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MESSAGES.

by

PATRICIA CECILIA ZURITA

(Under the direction of Jay Hamilton)

ABSTRACT

Framing, a resourceful tool in political communication and sociology, offers similar

versatility in the realm of public relations. This study elaborates on the questions of what frames

are utilized in corporate public relations when referring to corporate social responsibility efforts

and how successful they are at bringing their perspectives to the news media and activists. The

study uses framing as the methodology to analyze the coverage of Wal-Mart’s experimental or

“green stores” opened in McKinney, Texas and Aurora, Colorado in 2005. The study compares

the frames found in the public relations material published by Wal-Mart, the media coverage,

and the activists or bloggers coverage. The frames of the news media and activists had more in

common than the public relations frames.

INDEX WORDS: Public Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility, Framing, Activism, Wal-

Mart, Wal-Mart green stores, The New PR

WE ARE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE:

A FRAMING ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE PUBLIC RELATIONS AND THEIR

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MESSAGES.

by

PATRICIA CECILIA ZURITA

B.A., Augusta State University, 2004

A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

MASTER OF ARTS

ATHENS, GEORGIA

2006

© 2006

Patricia Cecilia Zurita

All Rights Reserved

WE ARE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE:

A FRAMING ANALYSIS OF CORPORATE PUBLIC RELATIONS AND THEIR

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MESSAGES.

by

PATRICIA CECILIA ZURITA

Major Professor: Jay Hamilton

Committee: Carolina Acosta-Alzuru Karen Russell

Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2006

iv

DEDICATION

To my life educators:

Gaudencio Zurita Herrera, my role model and my father.

My mother, Myriam Plúa Gonzalez, my emotional support and best friend.

I love you both.

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks go to Jay Hamilton, my thesis chair. He took me under his wing without knowing

me as a person or as a student. I am greatly indebted to you. Thank you for your patience,

guidance, and reminding me about topic sentences.

I also must thank my other committee members Carolina Acosta-Alzuru and Karen Russell for

their constructive criticism. Dr. Russell thank you for introducing me to anti-corporate

campaigns and the new PR.

Last, but certainly not least, a special thanks to my friends. They kept me sane throughout this

process and I couldn’t have done it with out them. Thank you for saving my thesis information

from my jump drive, the cups of coffee, and “informing” me about my defense date. You know

who you are. I love you all.

¡SI SE PUDO!

Table of Contents

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………….v

CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………..………..……...1

The Organization of this study………………………………………………..…..4

1 LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………………...…..5

Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Relations………………………...….5

Social Movements and Anti-Corporate Campaigns………………………………9

Public Relations and Activism…………………………………………….……..11

The New PR……………………………………………………………..……….13

Wal-Mart and Activism………………………………………………………….14

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….…16

2 METHOD ……………………………………………………………………….……17

Theoretical Perspective……………………………….…………...……...……...17

Framing……………………………………………….…………....……………18

Case Study………………………………………………………………..……..20

Methodology……………………………………………...……………………..21

Conclusion ………………………………………...………………………...….23

3 ANALYSIS………………………………………………….…………………………24

Public Relations Frames…………………………….…………………………...25

vii

News Frames………………………………………………….………………….30

Activists Frames……………………………………..…………………………...34

Conclusion…………………………………………………….…………………37

4 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION……………………………………………........40

Contributions to Academic Literature…………………………………………...40

Strengths and Limitations ……………………………………………………….46

Opportunities for Future Research……………………………………………….47

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….48

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………… …………………………….………….…..50

1

Introduction

Corporate social responsibility is a growing trend in corporate America and overseas. In

recognition of the CSR trend, many of the world's companies are changing. Microsoft voluntarily

included parental control technology on its newest video game console. McDonald’s promotes

its Ronald McDonald’s House Charities projects on its food trays. Beverages companies such as

Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the United States’ largest beverage distributors, agreed to stop selling non-

diet sodas to most public schools, where childhood obesity has become an increasing concern.

BP, Toyota, and other carbon-dependent companies are turning green (Schneiders, 2005).

I first came across the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) during my first

year of my masters program while doing an internship at Amanco Plastigama, a water solutions

company in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Amanco Plastigama’s parent company Amanco operates in

most of Latin America and is known for its environmental friendly practices. Was CSR the way

public relations should be practiced? And, more basically, what was the relationship between

CSR and public relations?

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., known for its low prices, is also the largest employer in the world.

It operates Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and SAM’S CLUB locations

across the United States. The company also operates in other 15 countries in North America,

Latin America, Europe, and Asia. But Wal-Mart is not only well-known as an employer and for

its low prices; it is also the target of many activist groups.

In my second year of graduate school, I was introduced in a course to anti-Wal-Mart

activism. I learned that Wal-Mart was the target of activists, critical movies, and critical web

2

sites. All these challenges suggest the importance to corporations of communicating their social

responsibility efforts and responding to this activism.

In an effort to appeal to activist groups and stake holders and be socially responsible,

Wal-Mart opened in 2005 two experimental stores baptized as “green stores.” The first store

opened in McKinney, Texas on July 20 and the second one is located in Aurora, Colorado

opening its doors on November 9. These green stores include environmental-friendly

experiments such as solar and wind power, waste oil boilers, porous pavements, and radiant floor

heating. (Wal-Mart, 2005a)

Through web sites such as www.walmartstores.com, www.walmartfoundation.org and

www.walmartfacts.com, Wal-Mart communicates its efforts at being a good corporate citizen

and its initiatives to promote social responsibility. The communication of CSR efforts is an idea

that retailers such as Wal-Mart and other companies have picked up in recent years. Wal-Mart

not only has put up CSR web sites but also has created executive positions in areas, such as

Sustainability, that exclusively deal with CSR issues. Wal-Mart has teamed up with PR agencies

such as Edelman to take part in heavy public relations campaigns to change its bad social

responsibility image. Because of these CSR efforts and the size and influence of the company, it

made sense then to examine my interest in CSR by choosing Wal-Mart, one of the main targets

of anti-corporate activism, as a case study.

The growing trend of corporate social responsibility is part in due the work of social

movements. Thus, scholars are paying increasing attention to the relationship between public

relations and social movements, but corporations and social movements are typically seen as

separate parties with distinct interests. But what happens when social movements and business

values seem to coincide and work toward the same goal such as environmental responsibitlity?

3

This study seeks to examine the messages crafted by a corporation—Wal-Mart—which

seem to reflect values similar to its critics. Most research in public relations has concentrated on

how business and government institutions use public relations to manage communication with

publics (J. Grunig & Hunt, 1984). Only a small portion of this research in public relations has

focused on corporate social responsibility as a means by which corporations and social

movements may share common ground—such as in the case between Wal-Mart and its critics.

This study will examine the public-relations efforts used by Wal-Mart regarding its green

stores and the evaluation of this effort by activists concerned with environmental impact of Wal-

Mart. It will also examine the representation of Wal-Mart green stores in news accounts in order

to assess the comparative strength of corporate and activist points of view.

The importance of this study is that it addresses corporate social responsibility as an

emerging and important area of corporate public relations. Some public relations agency

executives believe CSR is not only socially responsible but financially responsible as well.

I firmly believe that unless you are honest and take care of other stakeholders in business—your employees, your customers, your suppliers, your community—you will never create profitability for our shareholders that you are required to under the law of fiduciary responsibility (Paluszek, 2005, p. 2). As more and more companies talk about being “green” and being socially responsible,

the need for research of CSR messages in public relations becomes increasingly relevant Wal-

Mart is no exception. Wal-Mart has also joined the public relations and CSR wagon. But Wal-

Mart’s founder, Sam Walton, just might be spinning in his grave. He was said to detest public

relations, preferring to let Wal-Mart products and services speak for themselves (Fishman,

2006). Under a new regime though, PR has taken on a special urgency, with company officials

locking into a political campaign-like "war room" mentality to respond to critics (Barbaro,

2006b). Not only has Wal-Mart launched “green stores” but also promotes other CSR efforts on

4

its web sites mentioned before. Issues such as healthcare, sustainability, disaster relief, and

charitable giving and Wal-Mart efforts to address them are discussed on the web sites.

The Organization of this Study

The literature supporting this study will be presented in Chapter One. It will first present

the development of corporate social responsibility as a concept in public relations. It will

continue with literature on activism, specifically looking at social movements and their place in

public relations.

Chapter Two will discuss the theoretical perspective and the methods to be used in this

study. Framing will be discussed as the analysis tool used on the materials gathered from three

sources: Wal-Mart, the news media, and activist blogs. A discussion of how the framing of

information affects the interpretation of corporate social responsibility messages by the media

and blogs will also be included. Chapter Three will present the results of the framing analysis

and finally Chapter Four will entail the conclusion and discussion of the results and implications

of the study for the field of public relations.

In conclusion, corporate social responsibility is a growing and important trend in business

and especially in the field of public relations. Influential companies such as Wal-Mart have

picked up this trend and are taking part in public relations campaigns and CSR efforts in order to

become a good corporate citizen in the eye of the media, activists, and the public in general. It

seems valuable to take a look into a CSR effort of the largest employer in the U.S. and analyze

the framing occurring in the realm of public relations, the media, and activists. This study hopes

to better understand corporate social responsibility, public relations and the relationship that both

have.

5

Chapter One: Literature Review

Many research areas have studied aspects pertinent to this study. Public relations

literature dedicates a portion of their research to CSR. The topic of social movements and its

growing importance has been studied by social scientists and as well as mass communication

researchers. The following is a review of the literature in the areas aforementioned that concern

CSR, public relations, social movements, anti-corporate campaign, activism, the new PR, and

Wal-Mart.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Relations

How does CSR fit into public relations literature? According to Clark (2000) during the

1960s, the anti-business sentiment in the United States was obvious. The publicized era of

activism began to change the way in which corporations interacted with society, and therefore

how they communicated with society. The public’s consent was thought by some to be

dissolving because of the insurgence of activism and public skepticism. Nuclear power, civil

rights abuses, regulation of business’ activities, the consumer rights movement, and the women’s

movement were a few key developments that contributed to the tension between business and

society (Clark, 2000). New demands were placed on public relations professionals, such as

management skills and an understanding of human psychology. By 1948, the discipline had its

own professional organization, the Public Relations Society of America (Clark, 2000).

The rise of CSR in the late 1970s and early 1980s coincided with the increased concern

for a corporation’s image. No longer were the boardrooms closed and executives quiet; instead,

companies had to adapt to an ever-increasing demand for information from the public. Soon

6

after, with the publication of Edward Freeman’s seminal work, Strategic Management: A

Stakeholder Approach, the general public became to be viewed as a more specialized grouping

of primary and secondary stakeholders (Clark, 2000).

Social responsibility developed in the late 1970s and continued to grow in the following

decades. During much of the 1980s and early 1990s, social responsibility and social performance

lacked either a definitive model or a set of agreed-upon concepts. Still, many scholars outlined

several central topics aimed at describing CSR. According to Karake-Shalhoub (1999), the term

CSR was in common use in the early 1970s (although seldom abbreviated), and the term

"stakeholders" was used to describe corporate owners beyond shareholders at least as long ago as

1989.

According to Post et al. (1996) many of today’s businesses think of CSR as making types

of paternalistic, charitable contributions. However, they continue, there is another form of CSR.

That is, the stewardship principle. According to this view, corporations become stewards or

public trustees by using their resources to affect all people in society in fundamental ways, not

just stockholders. This latter principle led to modern stakeholder theory in which corporate

managers recognize the need to interact meaningfully with all groups who have a stake in the

organization’s activities.

The fact that corporations are prioritizing social demands is partially caused by activism.

But, advocacy groups and politicians are now challenging those corporate assertions. One

California group even took out full-page newspaper ads questioning Toyota Motor's

environmentalist credentials (Robinson & Viscusi, 2006). Global activism and the growing

number of special interest groups place public relations practitioners in the role of community

builders responsible for helping link socially, politically, geographically, culturally diverse, and

7

often competing interests (Daugherty, 2001). But, it is not only important to accommodate

stakeholders. It is also important to communicate these efforts. These efforts are communicated

through corporate communication of CSR initiatives and actions.

If public relations and corporate social responsibility seem to have a lot in common, is

corporate social responsibility part of public relations? Or are they different practices? Clark

(2000) suggests that public relations and CSR have similar objectives; both disciplines work to

improve the relationship of an organization among key stakeholder groups. And both recognize

improving this relationship makes good business sense.

Another view of CSR is that it is the practice of good and effective public relations. In

other words, there would be no need for “CSR efforts” if public relations were fulfilling its

function in the first place. Figures such as Edward Bernays, regarded by some as the “father of

public relations,” was quoted as saying “Public relations is the practice of social responsibility”

at the 1980 meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism in Boston (Panteleeva, 2002).

This implies corporate social responsibility and public relations are very similar practices. No

scholarly studies were found regarding this view, but it is one view worth considering.

While the term “corporate responsibility” can have many meanings, it is most widely

used according to L’Etang & Pieczka (1996) in an evaluative and laudatory manner, describing

the conduct of business as a whole or of corporations above and beyond its purely economic

function (p.85). Critical perspectives in public relations like L’Etang & Pieczka (1996) believe

CSR has its theoretical roots in philosophical debates regarding morals and ethics. According to

these authors, corporate responsibility has two main applications. One is to take action in

response to corporate disasters and the second is to take voluntary and benevolent action in

society outside their primary economic function.

8

In the sense of moral and ethical conduct, an example of CSR in public relations would

be Johnson & Johnson’s success when it placed its shareholders’ interests last and its

stakeholders’ satisfaction first. Johnson & Johnson suffered a great deal when individuals

tampered with Tylenol bottles, killing several people. Johnson & Johnson reacted immediately

by taking all of the Tylenol supply off shelves across the nation. Although it was a tough

decision to make, it was the right one, both in terms of public health and in terms of profitability.

Because of its socially responsible actions, Johnson & Johnson’s shareholders and stakeholders

loyalty actually rose over time in the long term because of Johnson and Johnson’s reaction to the

incident (Hollendar, 2004).

By contrast, another difference between PR and CSR is expressed by Judi Mackey,

director of the US corporate and financial practice at Hill & Knowlton, who maintains that the

PR industry looks at CSR too narrowly. Oversimplification is one problem with much of the

CSR practice. According to Hood (2006), CSR has moved on from identifying issues to real

problem-solving. Taking on some of the globe's most recalcitrant issues is creating the need for

companies, NGOs, and government to partner as never before (Hood, 2006).

The public relations profession has also recognized the importance of social

responsibility. At the Public Relations Society of America 2002 International Conference in San

Francisco it announced the formation of a special practice section, Strategic Social

Responsibility (Paluszek, 2003). That same year, Ketchum Public Relations, one of the world's

largest public relations agencies, announced the launch of Ketchum Corporate Social

Responsibility - a global specialty area that will focus on counseling and communications

services related to corporate social responsibility and sustainable growth (CSRWire, 2002).

Another public relations firm that got involved in corporate social responsibility was Edelman

9

Public Relations. This firm teamed up in 2000 with the United Nations to create the Global

Compact, a project that promotes social responsibility among multi-national corporations

(Ruggie, 2002).

Corporate social responsibility has some presence in the public relations literature, but

there needs to be more research in the area as CSR continues to grow. As more and more

companies pick up CSR practices as do public relations practitioners, it seems relevant to

analyze CSR messages and how they are perceived by others like the media and activists. More

qualitative research is needed in the area of corporate social responsibility and public relations to

reach a more in-depth understanding of the relationship between them.

Social Movements and Anti- Corporate Campaigns

Social movements are collective efforts, of some duration and organization, using non-

institutionalized methods to bring about social change (Croteau & et al, 2005). These

movements’ change-oriented goals have a clear political dimension in that they seek social

change from some larger institution like government or in the case of anti-corporate activism of

corporations.

Social movement organization/news organization research indicates that social

movements must construct their messages in such a manner that journalists accept the

movement’s point of view (Low, 2004). If the message is constructed in a way that the general

public cannot relate to, the movement’s message will not receive media attention or spur any

social change.

Johnston (2005) suggests that points of view advanced by social movement organizations

are subject to an “intense contestation between collective actors representing the movement, the

state, and any existing counter movements” (p. 16). These contests have even been called

10

“struggles for cultural supremacy.” Some social movements have evolved into activist groups

with specific anti-corporate campaigns. Examples of these anti-corporate campaigns are those

against Nike, Starbucks, and the focus of this study, Wal-Mart. According to Mayheim (2001)

anti-corporate campaigns are defined as an assault on the reputation of a company that has

somehow offended a union or some other interest group. These corporate campaigns, says

Mayheim (2001), are a distinctive phenomenon whose manifestations are everywhere in the

marketplace and the media. But, Mayheim (2001) adds, even though the corporate campaigns are

ubiquitous, they are little known and understood.

Several social movements and activism efforts have become anti-corporate campaigns in

order to change the ethos of some companies that are not deemed socially responsible. Some of

these anti-corporate efforts have been successful in getting their messages and collective action

frames into the media, making their efforts partially successful. If their messages get into the

media, they will be on the public’s agenda and may even cause change in the companies they are

seeking to change.

The diversity and dynamic nature of the anti-corporate movement can be captured by a

typology that classifies groups in two dimensions according to Karagianni & Conelissen (2006).

The first distinguishes social groups according to the general scope that underlies their ideology

and goals. The second dimension differentiates social groups according to the main antagonist

that the groups contest through their claims (Karagianni & Conelissen, 2006).

The diversity and dynamic of anti-corporate movements is something corporations like

Wal-Mart and its public relations practitioners have to address. The fact that there is more than

one anti-corporate movement, makes is difficult for any corporation to address them all. Not only

does it make it difficult to address them all, but also it will be difficult to satisfy them all.

11

Public Relations and Activism

Activism within the public relations literature is viewed as something to be battled and

overcome. According to L. Grunig (1992), the activists are “out to get” the organization. She

believes whether the issue is circumscribed or inclusive, the organization remains in almost all

cases as the target of the activists.

According to L. Grunig (1992), PR practitioners can play a significant part in resolving

the fundamental conflicts that activism create depending on their approach to the field. L. Grunig

(1992) states that the two-way symmetrical model of public relations or excellence model is

rarest but most effective in contending with activist pressure (p.514). L. Grunig et al (2002) do

acknowledge that activism pushes organization toward excellence (p. 442). They continue to

argue that coping with a turbulent, complex environment requires sophisticated, strategic, two-

way communication. Unfortunately, because so little public relations practice follows the model,

it remains largely untested as a strategy for coping with activism (L. Grunig, 1992).

The view of activism as problem to overcome differs from that of Raymond (2003) who

believes that activism is a positive influence on corporate policies and practices. To move

constructively forward, corporations need not only to overcome the massive trust deficit they

face, but also their fear of activists. Activists play a vital role in the process of exposing

institutions who have betrayed societies’ trust or sense of justice (Raymond, 2003). They will

continue to play that role not only by exposing institutions and leaders who cannot be trusted, but

by building and maintaining the trust of those organizations who earn it.

Activism is a major factor behind the rise of corporate social responsibility. Activism

does not longer only challenge government to change. Anti-corporate activism is now pressing

companies to change. Corporate social responsibility has emerged as a response to anti-corporate

12

activism and has become an important and daunting task of many corporate public relations

practitioners.

Social problems are no longer ignored and activism against big corporations such as Wal-

Mart, has given rise to anti-corporate campaigns seeking change in the ethos of corporations.

These issues emerge when people analyze, define, delimit, and label problems. In this sense,

issues are social constructions that can exist independently of the verifiable conditions on which

they are based. Heath (1990) recognizes the cultural aspect describing activism as a “contest over

social reality” (p. 36).

The growing trend of activism, especially anti-corporate campaigns, is an issue that

public relations practitioners have to address. Research shows that organizations that come under

activist pressure tend to be unprepared, do not know how to respond and either fail to respond at

all or respond ineffectively (L. Grunig, 1992). There is a temptation to ignore activists and hope

they will go away. But, if dealt with in the right manner, activists have been shown to change

their approach from aggressively confrontation to cooperation (L. Grunig, 1992).

An example is the Environmental Defense Fund working with General Motors and

McDonald's (Bovet, 1994). This kind of activism—environmentalism—has come full circle. In

the '70s, activists and consumer advocates went to war against businesses that polluted. There

was very little dialogue between the two sides. Now, environmental activists are partnering with

business and industry, according to Paluszek (2005).

Within the research in anti-corporate activism, few studies focus on CSR messages

crafted by businesses themselves. Studies like Reber and Berger’s (2005) examine how a non-

profit organization frames its messages in order to get its values across. Others such as Hon’s

(1997) studies social movements as a PR campaign itself. The first study mentioned focuses on

13

non profits and analyzes through quantitative methods how successful a non-profit organization

was at creating salient messages. On the other hand, Hon took one specific social movement,

with one specific agenda and analyzed salient messages as well as its actions. The studies

diverge in other ways. While Reber & Berger took a quantitative approach to their research, Hon

took a more historical and thematic approach. However, few studies have taken a more critical

and qualitative approach to the study of social movements and public relations.

The New PR

In contrast to the idea of persuading publics to agree with the corporation’s views, the

new PR or PR 2.0 is based more on symmetry. There is a new PR in that technological

innovations are having an impact on the way PR is practiced; the world has become smaller and

people can communicate with each other with a speed and ease that wasn’t possible years ago

(Young, 2006). This new PR is based on “social media” communication channels such as

blogging that allow for dialogue, collaboration, and transparency among other characteristics.

Dialogue is one of the characteristics of the new PR. Blogs allow access to public

relations information that in other times would have only been available to journalists and media

people. This access to information allows the publics not only to inform themselves about issues

but also to participate with others in a conversation by expressing their opinions.

Another aspect of PR 2.0 is collaboration. Blogs allow creation as well as the sharing of

knowledge. Blogging is about joining a conversation and not about trying to manipulate the

conversation (Basturea, 2006). This aspect of collaboration feeds into the symmetric base of the

new PR. If more than one public participates in the conversation, then it resembles the

symmetrical model PR textbooks talk about.

14

Transparency is also part of the new PR. According to Basturea (2006) the solution and

cure for distrust is transparency. Distrust is an issue that the public relations practice battles

against as well as does corporate social responsibility. Public relations and CSR are viewed with

distrust and transparency is a way to address this distrust. Transparency in PR and CSR would

imply letting the publics know what an organization or corporation is doing and why.

On the other hand, according to others such as Bruce (2006), PR 2.0 is no different from

the traditional public relations. He believes that although there are a lot of different definitions

for the traditional PR, they all say the same thing; PR is about reputation with the aim of

understanding and influencing opinion and behavior. Bruce (2006) believes that PR 2.0 strives

for the same goals therefore making it no different than traditional PR.

Regardless of the view of traditional PR versus the new PR, one thing is certain, new

media technologies such as blogging are influencing the practice of corporate public relations.

Public relations agencies and corporations are catching up to the blogging wave and whether this

online dialogue betters their company’s identity or challenges it even more will vary from case to

case.

Wal-Mart and Activism

Wal-Mart is one of the biggest targets in corporate America of activists. Anti-Wal-Mart

initiatives include movies, bloggers, academic courses, as well as activist web sites. It seems that

Wal-Mart has its hands full when defending its social responsibility and corporate citizenship.

An example that demonstrates the growing activism against Wal-Mart’s is the number of activist

group web sites like Wake up Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart Watch, Walocaust, and The New Rules

Project to name a few. Another indication is the company’s recent search for two senior level

public relations executives. According to Barbaro (2006b), the successful candidates must have

15

much experience with media relations, crisis management, and 24/7 availability for “emergency

response.”

Wal-Mart may be showing some effort of addressing activism and media scrutiny but this

is not always the case. This attitude of not disclosing information about the company may stem

from Sam Walton’s legacy. He felt like any kind of media relations effort fell into that category

of adding costs without serving customers (Fishman, 2006). Talking about what they’re doing

and how they’re doing it has never been something that was a priority for Sam Walton or Wal-

Mart according to Fishman (2006).

One way in which an organization can communicate its social responsibility is to utilize

rapidly expanding computer-mediated-communication networks (Esrock, 1998). The developing

Internet, in one sense, is a traditional communication tool in that it can be used by a public

relations practitioner to furnish an array of information in a variety of formats to online publics

like shareholders, customers, suppliers, employees, media, and so forth. But used in a different

manner, the Internet and Web become a new type of communication medium. Wal-Mart has

recognized this new type of communication medium by using www.walmartfacts.com, a web

site dedicated to inform consumers about Wal-Mart’s business and CSR practices.

Although all types of organizations may benefit from communicating with publics

through the Internet, activist groups may benefit most from the Web’s dialogic potential.

According to Taylor (2001), an activist public is “a group of two or more individuals who

organize in order to influence another public or publics through action that may include

education, compromise, persuasion, pressure tactics or force” Activists may be have been

historically considered “powerless” according to Coombs (1998) but that is changing. They now

16

have a new weapon that can change the organization-stakeholder dynamic—the Internet

(Coombs, 1998).

Wal-Mart recognized this dialogic potential of the Internet and started participating in the

new PR. In early 2006, Wal-Mart enlisted bloggers in one of their PR campaigns to try to

improve the company’s reputation (Barbaro, 2006a). According to Barbaro (2006a), companies

of all stripes, not just Wal-Mart, are using blogs to help shape public opinion. In this specific

case, Wal-Mart and Edelman were feeding the bloggers information and the bloggers posting this

information word for word. This strategy used by Wal-Mart and Edelman raised questions about

the transparency of the corporation and the independence of bloggers. According to Basturea

(2006), it would be more transparent—more blog-like—for Wal-Mart to simply make this

information available to bloggers via its own blog.

Conclusion

So far, research in mass communications has found a relationship between activism and

public relations. Studies like Reber and Berger’s (2005) and Hon’s (1997) have examined the

relationship of activism and public relations, making important contributions to the literature.

These studies have looked at social movements and activism as public relations campaigns and

have illuminated key points in the framing of social issues.

Even though the activism/public relations relationship has been researched, the

relationship between public relations and corporate social responsibility still remains largely

unexplored. The new PR also needs to be explored as more and more organizations and publics

start to take part in it. A particularly pressing need is to explore the relationship between PR and

CSR.

17

Chapter Two: Method

This chapter will provide a description of the approach to analyzing the activist challenge

to Wal-Mart. After, a brief discussion of constructivism, a description of the case study, and the

materials to be used will be presented.

Theoretical Perspective

In order to study corporate social responsibility and public relations, this research will

take a constructivist perspective. In other words, what one knows and what one thinks are both

constituted by the communication process. Thus, what one responds to is a reality created

through the social interaction (Johnson-Cartee, 2005).

Public relations work can be productively regarded as an example of what social theorists

call the construction of social reality (Berger & Luckmann, 1966; Tuchman, 1978). According to

Blumer (1971) the constructivist approach to communication draws on ideas from the symbolic

interactionism school of sociology. According to Hallahan (1999), symbolic interactionism

rejects the attempts to examine human behavior in terms of instinct, external forces, or the

structural functional explanations that predominated early sociological thinking. Instead, human

behavior is thought to result from how people interact and their use of symbols to create

meaning. More importantly, constructionists contend that people act based on these perceptions

rather than "objective reality" (Hallahan, 1999).

Starting from the premise that news is socially constructed, it seems important to analyze

the techniques of activists and public relations practitioners use to get their favored views

reflected in news content. The constructivist perspective is appropriate for this study in order to

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analyze the frames used by Wal-Mart, the press, and bloggers to create social reality. This

perspective looks at the efforts of those trying to affect public opinion and public policy by

gaining news coverage and getting news content to reflect their goals. According to Johnson-

Cartee (2005), the efforts by those outside the news industry to influence content are a layer of

the social construction of news that hasn't received nearly as much attention as other aspects

covered in the traditional sociological analyses of news production.

Framing

Based on the purpose and theoretical perspective of the study, the method most suitable is

framing analysis. Framing will be considered as the selection and highlighting of some facets of

events or issues, making connections among them so as to promote a particular interpretation,

evaluation, and/or solution. Or in Entman’s (1993) words, framing is selecting some aspects of a

perceived reality and making them more salient in a communicating text.

The concept of frame has considerable currency in the social sciences today. References

to it, for both descriptive and analytic purposes, and to the more fluid conception of framing

processes can be readily found in psychology, particularly cognitive psychology, linguistics, and

discourse analysis, communication and media studies, and political science and policy studies

(Benford & Snow, 2000). The frame concept and kindred processes have been applied

analytically and explored empirically in sociology as well, probably more so than in other areas

because of the influence of Goffman’s (1974) book on the topic.

Framing theory provides a potentially useful means of examining what occurs in public

relations. In addition to a rhetorical approach that focuses on how messages are created, framing

is conceptually connected to the underlying psychological processes that people use to examine

information, to make judgments, and to draw inferences about the world around them.

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One can view the negotiation between news organizations, social movements, and

corporations as a circulation of competing frames. For a social movement organization to have

its collective action frame accepted by the public, it is important that news organizations transmit

the collective action frame without significantly altering that frame. This collective action frame

will then try to find its way to the news media. McCombs and Estrada (1997) argue that the news

media are a primary source of the information that creates what Lippman (1992) called the

pictures in our heads. This is because much of the world is beyond the direct reach of the public.

Several studies within the area of public relations have resorted to framing as a

methodological framework. Used consistently both within and outside organizations, frames

represent powerful mechanisms through which public relations practitioners can mediate debate

related to public policy (Knight, 1999). Some analyze corporation’s moves and the press

coverage they obtain. Anderson (2001) for example used framing analysis to determine the

relationship between the messages made public by Merck and Pfizer—the makers of Vioxx and

Celebrex—and press content over a pharmaceutical battle. Another example is Esrock & et al

(1996) analysis of the newspaper coverage of Nabisco’s decision to discontinue and later on

resume production of its Crown Pilot crackers.

Framing in public relations has also been studied in the political arena. Chapman Perkins

(2005) looked at the messages produced by The National Association for the Advancement of

Colored People and its coverage in six mainstream newspapers after the 2000 presidential

election. The topic of Iraq has also been studied through the framing. Hiebert (2003) believes

techniques of public relations and propaganda were an essential part of the 2003 war in Iraq.

According to Hiebert (2003), the government framed the issues, story line, and slogans to serve

its purposes.

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Framing is an effective way to look at public relations efforts especially in a case of

social responsibility. Framing is a way of characterizing main themes that an entity whether it is

a corporation, the press, or bloggers wants to portray. In the case of this study, corporate social

responsibility messages will be analyzed to see whether or not the frames of the social reality

constructed by a corporation coincide with the frames used by the press and bloggers.

Case Study

The case to be investigated in this thesis concerns an effort by Wal-Mart to address its

harmful impact on the environment. In an effort to display social responsibility efforts, Wal-Mart

opened two “green” stores in 2005. One is located in Aurora, Colorado while the other is in

McKinney, Texas. These experimental stores, as Wal-Mart refers to them, are stores that blend

sustainability with “everyday low prices.” They contain new technological experiments in the

areas of climate control, internal lighting, and water conservation among others. The case was

chosen because it portrayed a corporation’s attempt to practice social responsibility, thus

permitting the study to analyze an effort valued by stakeholders, including activists and the press.

Another relevant player in activist challenges to corporations is the news media. For a

social movement to have its collective action frame become part of the public’s dialogue, the

collective action frame must be placed on the public’s agenda. Because of the nature of

communication in American society, the mass media, particularly its news organizations, are one

of the primary tools that a social movement can use to achieve that goal (McCombs & Shaw,

1972).

If and how a news organization chooses to cover a given issue affects where that issue is

placed on the public’s agenda. Ghanem (1997) argues that the manner in which an issue or

collective action frame is covered by a news organization affects both what the public thinks

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about the issue and the issue’s salience relative to the public’s discourse. For a social movement

organization to have its collective action frame accepted by the public, it is important that news

organizations transmit the collective action frame without significantly altering that frame.

Methodology

Based on the rationale above, three different points of view regarding the social

responsibility efforts of Wal-Mart were studied. The frames of corporate public relations (Wal-

Mart), the main news stream (press coverage) and the activist (blogs) will be the subject of

analysis.

The corporate side will be addressed by examining the public relations material released

by Wal-Mart on its web site www.walmartfacts.com and www.walmartstores.com. Press releases

and press kits were analyzed in order to determine the frames that Wal-Mart utilizes on its PR

materials. A total of 15 items were gathered from both web sites.

Both of Wal-Mart’s web sites mentioned above carry similar information about the

company and corporate social responsibility. The first site mentioned, www.walmartfacts.com,

features information on topics like sustainability, economic benefits, employment, diversity, and

charitable giving among others. On this site one can find fact sheets, press releases, photos, as

well as information to contact Wal-Mart if needed. Another aspect featured on the web site is

blogs. One of the blogs, “Working Families for Wal-Mart”, highlights first-hand knowledge of

Wal-Mart’s positive contributions to communities. The other blog, “Life at Wal-Mart”, portrays

stories of store associates and their positive experiences at the retailer. The second web site,

www.walmartstores.com, offers very similar information about the company, people,

community, and environment surrounding the retailer.

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In order to analyze the frames used by the news media, press coverage regarding Wal-

Mart’s experimental stores was gathered. The press coverage material was retrieved from a

search in the academic database Lexis Nexis of the phrase “Wal-Mart ‘green stores.’” The

materials gathered included sources from local and national coverage as well as print

(newspapers and magazines) and radio. The press coverage included major newspapers such as

the Financial Times, magazines such as Building Design and Construction, and radio programs

such as All Things Considered from National Public Radio. A total of 17 items were analyzed

and about a third of them were from local newspapers from the area the “green stores” were

located.

Finally, the last point of view to be studied will be the one from activists in blogs. This

type of material was located through a search of the terms “Wal-Mart 'green stores'” in the blog

search engines www.blogdigger.com and Amazon.com’s blog search engine “A9.” A total of 10

blog entries were retrieved and analyzed.

The materials found in the blog search were divided into two categories. The first

category contains personal blogs that commented on the Wal-Mart’s “green stores.” The second

category included the material found on organized activist web sites regarding the experimental

stores. These web sites were divided into categories because of their different social roles they

serve. Organized activist web sites are specifically anti-corporate activists designed to oppose

and try to reform corporations, while personal bloggers may or may not be anti-corporate

depending on their social role as customer, former employee among others.

In order to analyze the materials, the following process was followed. The materials were

read to identify key actors and objects. Once identified, the materials were read again to identify

the adjectives and allusions most commonly used to describe and make sense of actors and

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objects. These adjectives and allusions for each key actor and object were read holistically in the

context of the study’s intentions to abstract from them the more general, often implicit claims

about each actor and object. The more general, implicit claim or characterization is taken in this

study to be a frame. This process of continuous comparison was followed for the public relations

materials from Wal-Mart, the news coverage, and the activist blogs.

Conclusion

Framing within a constructivist perspective is for this case, the most effective way to

analyze corporate social responsibility messages. The method of framing will bring to light the

implicit perspectives of Wal-Mart, the press, and activists. The constructivist perspective will

help understand why these frames were used by each group.

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Chapter 3: Analysis

This chapter presents an analysis of each of the six frames found for the three groups and

source materials analyzed: public-relations releases from Wal-Mart, journalists and news stories

about green stores, and activist views of green stores expressed on activist web logs (blogs.) I

present and characterize the key frames in the materials from each group (Wal-Mart, journalists,

and activists). I then analyze the way each of these frames helped present the green stores.

The questions that drive this research are based on the assumption that public relations

messages, news messages, and activists’ blogs are structured by characteristic frames. Therefore,

I want to look at how these frames are used to construct social reality for each of the groups

being analyzed. What are these frames? What information do they include? The analysis seeks to

answer these questions, as well as, to better understand corporate social responsibility messages.

By analyzing each frame, it will become clear that there is a difference among the three

groups in the definition and practice of corporate social responsibility as presented in the case of

the green stores. While Wal-Mart may define CSR as simply investing in “green stores” and

giving back to its community and employees, journalists and activists define CSR in a different

way. They seem to believe that Wal-Mart needs to make bigger changes in their business model

and business practice in order to become a steward of the environment, their employees, and

other stakeholders. In other words, in order for Wal-Mart to be socially responsible, according to

the news and activists, bigger changes need to occur than just opening “green stores.”

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Public Relations frames

PR frame 1: Wal-Mart is a leader in environmental efforts.

The first frame found in the public relations materials published by Wal-Mart portrayed

the company as a leader in environmental efforts. By environmental efforts, I specifically refer to

the environmentally friendly experiments of their two “green stores.” With this frame, Wal-Mart

wanted to make sure their environmental effort of building “green stores” did not go unnoticed

and also wanted to stress their role as a leader in environmental endeavors. In other words, if

they are one of the first companies doing it, Wal-Mart must care about the environment. In a

press release that announced the opening of Aurora’s Experimental Supercenter, a quotation by

Pat Curran, executive vice president of Wal-Mart Stores-USA, made this frame explicit: “Wal-

Mart wants to be a leader in corporate responsibility for the environment and our shareholders”

(Wal-Mart, 2005b). Such a sentiment is not unusual in the selection of public-relations releases

examined Wal-Mart constantly mentioned that they are the first company to test environmentally

friendly experiments, the initiative put together in their “green stores.”

Another example that seeks to portray Wal-Mart’s leadership in environmentally friendly

retailing is a quotation from Mike Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart Stores USA. “As the world’s largest

retailer, we are excited that we can lead the way in promoting the use of sustainable building and

business practices in retail and the real state development process” (Wal-Mart, 2005a).

A further illustration of the frame regarding Wal-Mart’s leadership in environmental

efforts is reflected in the retailer’s environmental mission statement. Wal-Mart mentions in its

public relations material that these two experimental stores were created. The statement reads as

follows to:

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• Reduce the amounts of energy and natural resources required to operate and maintain the stores during the three-year period following grand opening.

• Reduce the amount of raw materials needed to construct the facility • Substitute, when appropriate, the amount of renewable materials used to construct and

maintain the facility (Wal-Mart, 2005a)

According to Wal-Mart, the experiments in the “green stores” have led to a store design that

improves the comfort of Wal-Mart associates, improves the ability to serve Wal-Mart customers,

and reduces Wal-Mart’s use of natural resources (Wal-Mart, 2005g).

An additional factor in the environmental leadership frame of Wal-Mart is the

experimental aspect of the “green stores.” One important discovery is that these “green stores”

are considered testing labs. These stores will be monitored for three years and no stores exactly

like them will ever be built, according to Wal-Mart executives. “We want to make the best used

of renewable and alternate sources like wind and solar energy to generate electricity to

supplement the power needs of the store,” said Don Moseley, Wal-Mart’s experimental projects

manager (Wal-Mart, 2005a). The purpose of having the experiments in these stores is to test

environmental practices and apply those that work best in future stores. “We see it as a next step

in evaluating the impact we leave on the environment as we look toward smart growth and

sustainability in the building of our new stores,” said Mike Duke, CEO of Wal-Mart Stores-USA

(Wal-Mart, 2005a).

The amount of money the retailer is willing to invest in the “green stores” adds to the

environmental leader frame. Wal-Mart’s “green store” is an ambitious and expensive project.

Wal-Mart executives refused to divulge how much it cost to build each experimental store, but

they made sure to point out that the money invested on these stores was well spent and that they

will return the investment in the future. They did acknowledge though, that they were more

expensive to build than traditional stores (Wal-Mart, 2005e). This increase in price is in part

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because the stores contain new environmental experiments, as well as a back-up system. For

example, the waterless urinals in one of the stores are backed up by a regular system of drains

and pipes that can take over in case the waterless system does not function properly (Wal-Mart,

2005c).

Another example that highlights the leadership frame is mention of past environmental

efforts. Wal-Mart has been testing with energy saving techniques in the recent past. The

experimental stores in McKinney, Texas and Aurora, Colorado are not the first attempt from

Wal-Mart to become a better steward of the environment (Wal-Mart, 2005f). According to public

relations material found on one of their web sites, over the last decade, Wal-Mart has examined

energy and environmental experiments in three other stores: Lawrence, Kansas; Moore,

Oklahoma; and City of Industry, California (Wal-Mart, 2005f). These stores did not have the full

array of experiments that McKinney and Aurora encompass, but they did test areas such as

heating, recycling, and skylights.

The retailer wants to further illustrate their environmental leadership by stating they will

share their experience with the “green stores” with others. As Wal-Mart evaluates the

experiences with the stores in McKinney and Aurora, they say they will share the results and

practices with others in the industry, the general public, and appropriate government agencies.

Wal-Mart states they will share the results of their green stores, an initiative that reflects

collaboration and transparency, two characteristics of the new PR. Wal-Mart has even included

on one of their web sites detailed information about the experiments chosen and eliminated for

the “green stores.” They also include information about the lessons learned when building these

experimental stores, their systems of monitoring and analysis, as well as information on the

construction and commissioning of the “green stores” (Wal-Mart, 2005d). Wal-Mart also said in

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its press releases that it hopes to learn new environmental conservation best management

practices and benchmarks that will serve as future design standards in the retail industry when it

comes to land development and building construction. “We will share our lessons learned from

this store with others in the industry so that we all can learn and the environment can benefit for

these technologies becoming more mainstream” (Wal-Mart, 2005b, p. 2). This is important

because if Wal-Mart decides to pick up environmental practices in its future stores, it might

become a standard that other retailers will copy.

Overall, this frame expressed the idea that Wal-Mart is an environmentally-friendly

company and a leader in the “green” movement. Wal-Mart is trying to state their concern for the

environment in the near and distant future. It also wants to let everybody know it is a leader in

environmental efforts. And, as a leader, it deserves praise and admiration.

PR frame 2: Wal-Mart is committed to its employees and the community.

Environmental activists are not the main concern of Wal-Mart as far as social

responsibility issues go, and this is apparent in the second frame found in the public relations

material. Wal-Mart’s PR team has to deal with labor and community issues as well as

environmental issues. The second frame found denotes Wal-Mart’s commitment to its employees

and the community. Although the “green stores” are primarily an environmental effort, Wal-Mart

also made sure to use this effort to state that it is also dedicated to other causes like its employees

and the communities it does business in.

Part of this frame highlighted the jobs created by these “green stores.” Wal-Mart’s press

releases included exact numbers of jobs created as well as details on compensation and benefits

that Wal-Mart associates receive (Wal-Mart, 2005a and Wal-Mart, 2005b). They also include

information on the two store managers, one in McKinney and one in Aurora, to highlight their

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careers at Wal-Mart. The information includes how many years they have been working at the

company, what position they held when they started working at Wal-Mart and what location they

started working at.

The other aspect of this frame was Wal-Mart’s emphasis on community giving.

According to Wal-Mart press releases, it can make the greatest impact on communities by

supporting issues and causes that are important to its customers and associates in their own

neighborhoods (Wal-Mart, 2005a). The information goes into detail naming the causes and

organizations it supports, as well the donations given to these organizations. For example, a press

release for the Aurora “green store” noted that Wal-Mart provided $13,500 in charitable

contributions to nine area organizations: City of Aurora, City of Aurora Fire Department,

Community College of Aurora Foundation, Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver, Hispanic

Chamber Education Foundation, Mile High United Way, Ronald McDonald House of Denver,

Safe Haven Foundation, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Wal-Mart makes sure to

mention all of the organizations they contribute to in order to illustrate their good corporate

citizenship frame (Wal-Mart, 2005b).

Overall, Wal-Mart seems to define corporate social responsibility through both of its

frames in narrowly technical terms such as a “green store” and charitable contributions. The

retailer believes that social responsibility can be addressed as a problem by spending money and,

in this case, to develop the “green stores.” A difference will be perceived in how the news and

activists define corporate social responsibility messages in the frames that follow.

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News frames

News frame 1: What is Wal-Mart’s motive for making an environmental effort?

The news coverage of Wal-Mart’s experimental stores had one predominant frame,

although there were various actors and objects present in the news coverage. The frame

questions Wal-Mart’s motivation in pursuing environmental endeavors. The news material

overall seems to be incredulous about Wal-Mart “green stores” and its drive towards being a

better steward of the environment. Wal-Mart’s move into green development may be in part an

effort to polish its image (Vincent, 2005). Analysts and critics alike will be keeping a close eye

whether the experiment will soften the company’s reputation or if it will be perceived as mere

greenwash (Natural Life, 2005).

The news material went into some detail when describing the experiments in the “green

stores,” but most of the time it included a comment regarding Wal-Mart’s motive for the

environmental effort. Overall, the most talked-about experiments were the wind turbines and the

boiler that mixes used oil from the deli and car center for heating purposes. Even though the tone

was overall skeptical of Wal-Mart’s motive for the environmental stores, such wasn’t always the

case. Some of the news did praise Wal-Mart for these innovative experiments. “Wal-Mart’s

newest store in McKinney, Texas, is not like other Supercenters. According to Gross (2005), the

Supercenter was designed from the start as a testing ground for a variety of energy-saving

technologies and practices. Wal-Mart’s “green stores” put it (Wal-Mart) ahead of the curve.

There does seem to be a small but growing trend of retailers building green (Lafferty, 2005).

Others, on the other hand, had a different opinion. “This store might be a little bit of a

demonstration. It doesn’t make economic sense to put a boiler in Texas. Plus, the McKinney

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burner cost $14,000, triple the cost of a conventional burner. These two experiments may be for

show” (Zeeble, 2005, p. 2).

Another reason that supports the skepticism of Wal-Mart “green stores” motive is the

history of certain Wal-Mart executives. According to Edwards (2006), Wal-Mart is a heavy

contributor to some political candidates vehemently opposed to environmentalists. It was also

reported that Wal-Mart has contributed more than 1.1 million between 2002 and 2004 to political

action committees to fight ballot initiatives regulating the environmental impact of enormous

warehouses and huge stores (Edwards, 2006). This attitude of Wal-Mart executives does not

coincide with environmental values and gives the news more reason to believe that the

experimental stores are “for show” or as they call it, a PR move.

Again, another reason that fuels the doubts about Wal-Mart’s efforts is the company’s

recent environmental record. According to Edwards (2006), in September 2003 Wal-Mart was

ordered to pay a $3 million penalty by the federal government, for past Clean Water violations.

Wal-Mart promptly paid what was actually part two of an Environment Protection Agency

punishment. Also in 2001, Wal-Mart was ordered to pay a $1 million penalty (for storm water

runoff, a form of contamination) and spend $4.5 million on better construction personnel and

frequent inspection (Edwards, 2006). Wal-Mart pollution problems surfaced again when Los

Angeles federal prosecutors began a criminal investigation into Wal-Mart hazardous waste

management this past December (Edwards, 2006).

According to some of the news material, environmental activists also question Wal-

Mart’s motivation behind the “green stores.” Major environmental organizations reacted

skeptically even after Wal-Mart opened the two experimental stores crammed with solar, wind-

powered and high-tech energy savers. The Sierra Club’s stance is that Wal-Mart must recognize

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that environmentalism is more than high-tech brilliance (Edwards, 2006). In an October 2005

statement, Sierra Club’s executive director Carl Pope praised Wal-Mart for taking an “important

first step” with its new environmental policy. Pope also exhorted Wal-Mart to heed

communities’ concerns about pollution, noise, and traffic when choosing store sites (Edwards,

2006).

News frame 2: The media see goodness in Wal-Mart’s CSR effort.

The other frame found in the news media materials tried to see the goodness in Wal-

Mart’s environmental effort. According to some of the news material, Wal-Mart’s environmental

talk has been supported by some recent awards. Wal-Mart earned in 2005 the first Waste News

Environmental Award (Lafferty, 2005). The award recognizes a company that has made

significant environmental progress in the way it operates business. It is being recognized for its

improvement in the way it does business. Maybe the “green stores” will earn them even more

progress and recognition in the eye of the news. Although this example does not support the first

frame, it was important to notice, since it is something significant and that Wal-Mart itself did

not emphasize in their public relations material.

The news material does shed some positive light on Wal-Mart’s “green stores.” To fight

this skepticism regarding their motives of making environmental efforts, Wal-Mart has other

“green” goals they want to meet in the near future. According Edwards (2006), Wal-Mart will

invest at least $500 million annually to achieve three environmental goals: zero waste, the use of

100% renewable energy and selling eco-friendly products. These environmental goals will try to

disproof the media and all others who doubt of Wal-Mart’s seriousness in becoming a better

steward for the environment.

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Even though the news coverage on Wal-Mart “green stores” was mostly incredulous,

some of it was more optimistic. They tried to see beyond Wal-Mart’s motivation and more of the

long-term implications of Wal-Mart’s venture. “We see that everything that Wal-Mart does

becomes, in some sense, standard operating procedure for others, so why shouldn’t this be the

case too? So let’s applaud them and not worry about why they’re doing it.” (Lafferty, 2005, p. 1)

Another article said, “This Wal-Mart experiment is important whatever it finds because others

will follow” (Zeeble, 2005, p.2). In other words, why question the motivation when Wal-Mart’s

venture can have positive long term effects?

Overall, most of the news material that questions Wal-Mart’s motives thinks the

experimental stores are purely a “PR” move. “Wal-Mart’s move into green development may be

in part an effort to polish its image” (Natural Life, 2005, p. 1). Another article stated as tempting

to dismiss such corporate pledges as a cynical public relations effort (Gross, 2005). This latter

article also called Wal-Mart’s green development, “a savvy exercise to appeal to the upscale

customers of Wal-Mart covets” (Gross, 2005).

The overall tone of the frames was whether or not Wal-Mart’s “green stores” are really

done for the right reason—concern for the environment—or if it is a big “PR” move. Most of the

news material analyzed seems to think the effort is for show. Wal-Mart has a bad environmental

record overall and maybe this is an effort to clean up their image. The critics of Wal-Mart’s

environmental actions will have to wait until the three-year monitoring period of the stores ends

to see whether or not Wal-Mart was serious about its environmental efforts.

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Activist frames

Activist frame 1: Wal-Mart’s environmental effort is overshadowed by other issues.

The first frame found in the blogs dealt with other issues that did not directly relate with

Wal-Mart’s experimental stores. Although bloggers started discussing Wal-Mart’s environmental

efforts, they soon began to discuss other issues that concern Wal-Mart’s corporate responsibility.

Among the most popular issues discussed on the blogs were better wages for employees and

impact on small community businesses.

Some bloggers tried to welcome Wal-Mart’s green endeavors but still managed to attack

Wal-Mart in other areas. “This doesn’t affect at all Wal-Mart’s contributions to suburban sprawl,

its poor treatment of workers, or its sourcing from some of the world’s exploitative labor markets

(especially China),” according to Ozmodiar (2005). Overall it seemed that no matter how hard

the bloggers or activists tried to see the good in Wal-Mart’s “green stores,” this effort was

overshadowed by other issues Wal-Mart faces.

One blog had an interesting and rather positive view about Wal-Mart’s experimental

stores. “Wal-Mart’s experiments with these technologies have great potential to spread the word

about green business and lifestyles to consumers that will likely never visit ‘sustainablog’ and

other ‘Sustainable Blogosphere’ sites” (McIntire-Strasburg, 2005, p. 1). This view suggests that

Wal-Mart’s size and reach can help more people become aware of green efforts. In other words,

Wal-Mart’s size—the very thing that makes it so vulnerable to attack—is precisely what could

make it a powerful force for good for the planet. This blogger is seeing past Wal-Mart’s

motivation or other social corporate responsibility issues. This blogger sees the possible positive

long term effects of Wal-Mart “democratizing” sustainability.

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Not all bloggers were as positive about Wal-Mart as the example mentioned above. Some

called Wal-Mart’s green efforts as “cheap language about environmental studies and helping out

small retailers” (Ozmodiar, 2005). They believe the efforts amount to nothing more than lip

service to help stop major criticism and outcry. Although Wal-Mart’s experimental stores might

be a small step in the right direction, most bloggers and activists remain unconvinced until the

retailer produces actual changes in their pollution output.

Activist frame 2: Wal-Mart’s “green stores” do not change Wal-Mart’s basic business model.

The second frame found in the blogs material directly referred to the “green stores” as an

environmental effort from Wal-Mart. It was described as a small first step but not being enough.

According to organized activists such as “The New Rules Project”, Wal-Mart needs to change its

basic business model in order to serve as a steward of the environment (Mitchell, 2005).

This frame was found mostly in web sites of organized activists such as “The New Rules

Project.” This is an actual organization compared to the other web sites which are exclusively

blogs. The organization has several areas they intercede in such as agriculture, environment,

energy, equity, finance, governance, and information. The retail area overseeing Wal-Mart’s

experimental stores has the goal of revitalizing locally owned business. The format of the

information presented in this web site was also different from other web sites or blogs analyzed.

On this site, the format was more of a press release rather than a blog. The first frame which

highlighted other corporate social responsibility issues was in general posted on the Internet by

activists, consumers, and even former Wal-Mart employees and not by an organization of

activists.

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Another factor that adds to the frame is Wal-Mart’s polluting business model according

to Mitchell (2005). According to “The New Rules Project”, Wal-Mart is a major factor behind

dramatic increases in how much Americans drive for shopping.

No other company has done more to make running our daily errands an ecologically hazardous activity,” said Stacy Mitchell from “The New Rules Project”. Today, even the simplest of errands, like picking up a gallon of milk or a box of nails, often requires driving several miles to a big-box store (Mitchell, 2005).

While the features incorporated into Wal-Mart's new “green” store in McKinney, Texas, create

very modest improvements in energy consumption and storm water runoff, they do not change

Wal-Mart's basic business model, which is extremely polluting.

Another example is the retailer’s poor record of locating stores on environmentally

sensitive sites, especially wetlands (Mitchell, 2005). In Bangor, Maine, for instance, the

company spent several years trying to pave the Penjajawoc Marsh. Identified by state officials as

“the single most significant emergent marsh for water birds in Maine,” the Penjajawoc is home

to numerous rare and endangered birds. (Mitchell, 2005, p. 1) Wal-Mart fought hard to develop

the marsh, but was ultimately blocked by a tenacious citizens group that persuaded the state to

intervene. The point that The New Rules Project tries to make is that Wal-Mart is still lacking

environmental sensitivity in its business model. The “green stores” could be a good initiative but

they do not change the basics that Wal-Mart operates business on everyday.

An important distinction should be made about this second frame found within the

activist group. According to Johnston (2005), what gets said or written is influenced by social

role. In this case, some of the bloggers spoke from a variety of roles such as customers, activists,

and former employees. The language of these cyber activists is somewhat more informal and

their messages or comments are tailored to their personal concerns and experiences with Wal-

37

Mart. Their messages are not always about the same issue, but they all fit within the frame that

other issues overshadow Wal-Mart’s environmental efforts.

On the other hand, the organized activist groups portrayed their message somewhat

different compared to the informal bloggers. The activists are more organized not only as a group

but in composing their messages as well. Their framing of their messages involved the

articulation and accenting of elements of existing beliefs and values, most of which are

associated with existing ideologies. Hence, it is arguable that collective actions frames are

typically comprised, at least in part, of strands of one or more ideologies (Johnston, 2005, p.

209). These ideologies can be seen in the different areas The New Rules Project intercedes in

mentioned above. Also, The New Rules Project was the only organized activist web site that had

any information on Wal-Mart’s green stores. Other activist web sites that pride in being anti-

Wal-Mart did not portray any information or comments regarding the environmental effort. This

might be in part because most organized activist anti-Wal-Mart web sites concentrate their

efforts on labor and other issues that overshadow environmental issues.

Conclusion

The six frames found in the analysis had more differences than similarities. The frames

found in the public relations material were not similar at all to the frames found in the news

material and blogs. The PR frames exalted Wal-Mart for its environmental efforts and leadership

in corporate social responsibility. Traces of these frames were found seldom in the news and

blogs materials. The retailer attempts to build—through its frames—a social reality in which

Wal-Mart is good corporate citizen and as such is thinking about the effect its supercenters will

have on the environment.

38

The first news frame was somewhat similar to the frames found in the blogs. The news

frame questions Wal-Mart’s motive to implement environmental efforts. This frame is

incredulous of Wal-Mart’s efforts of being a good corporate citizen. The news frame suggests

that there could be an alternate reason, besides social responsibility, to Wal-Mart’s “green

stores.” The blogs’ frames not only question Wal-Mart’s motives, but also denote that the

experimental stores are not merely enough as an environmental and a corporate social

responsibility effort. The blogs frame Wal-Mart as a bad corporate citizen not only in

environmental issues but in others such as employee’s treatment and impact on small businesses.

One likely reason for the similarity among the news and blogs’ frames could be attributed to the

bad image of public relations.

Both the news and the blogs’ frames have reasons to question Wal-Mart’s “green stores”

as an environmental effort. Both of them give reasons such as past environmental records and

Wal-Mart’s executive’s anti-environment ideologies. The news frame is to some extent more

positive than the blogs’ frames and gives Wal-Mart the benefit of the doubt. It seems like some

of the press materials analyzed will wait to see the results of the experimental stores to pass on

their judgment on the environmental effort.

The blogs’ frames go further than the first news frame in discrediting Wal-Mart and their

social responsibility efforts. The news frame questions Wal-Mart’s motive behind the “green

stores” while the blogs also question the retailer on other CSR issues. This overshadowing of

environmental issues might be in part due to the negative image Wal-Mart has an employer and

corporate citizen. For some bloggers, it seems to be, that employees’ issues take prevalence over

environmental concerns.

39

The news frame and the blogs’ frames were more similar than the PR frames mainly

because of one reason. This reason is that corporate America receives low marks for its CSR

performance, according to Fleishman-Hillard & National Consumers League (2005). The press

and the activists are, in a way, the check and balance of corporate America, in this specific case

of Wal-Mart. The press and activists are going to have more interests in common than with the

retailer therefore their frames are going to be more similar.

The difference in the frames among the three groups (Wal-Mart, the news media, and

activists) might be attributed to their different definitions of what constitutes corporate social

responsibility efforts. For Wal-Mart, CSR is addressed by investing money in “green stores” and

in charitable contributions, while the news and the activists might disagree. The news and

activists believe the problem of social responsibility should be addressed by changing the whole

ethos of the corporation and not doing superficial changes. The next chapter will further discuss

the findings and implications of the study as well as the conclusions reached.

40

Chapter 4: Discussion and Conclusion

This final chapter will first discuss the implications of the study for the areas of activism,

corporate social responsibility and public relations. Second the strengths and limitations of the

study are discussed. Lastly it will give suggestions for future research in the area of public

relations and corporate social responsibility.

The study overall looked closely at the corporate social responsibility frames represented

in public relations material, the news media, and activist web sites. It explored these frames in

order to compare and contrast them. Some differences were found, especially when comparing

the public relations frames to the news media or the activists’ frames. More similarities were

found among the news media and activists’ web sites.

Contributions to Academic Literature

Activism

As discussed in the earlier section, there is a difference in CSR definition. CSR is what

it’s important to you. According to Fleishman Hillard & National Consumers League (2005),

consumers may care most about CSR issues that are personally relevant. For example,

consumers may say they care about employees because they themselves may feel stress or strain

while on the job. They may care about the environment because they worry about what the world

will be like for their children and grandchildren. This personal connection to the issues is an

important aspect fueling activism.

For the case of the bloggers there seems to be a pattern in the way they define corporate

social responsibility. CSR is going to be defined as taking proper care of their employees by

41

those bloggers who have either worked at Wal-Mart or know about the retailer’s labor issues.

The definition of CSR is going to vary according to the issue that is closest to their heart.

Personal connection is not the only aspect fueling activism. Online activism has provided

a cheap and accessible platform from which to share information and experience, argue

compelling but relatively unknown principles, coordinate with like minded people, and attack the

methods and messages of their corporate opponents. (John, 2003, 118) According to Fleishman

Hillard & National Consumers League (2005), technology is changing the landscape in which

consumers gather and communicate information about how well companies are being socially

responsible. Nowadays, it is not necessary to have an elaborate web site and have a multi-person

organization in order to be part of cyber activism. Blogs have evolved common citizens not only

into cyber journalists, but also into cyber activists.

According to John (2003), a key point is that CSR is not simply about altruism: the

concurrent rise of socially responsible investment products and initiatives and the increasing

capacity of consumers to educate themselves about the ethical impacts of their purchasing

decisions can be attributed to the Internet. More and more the public is educating itself about

companies and CSR via the Internet.

In the case of this study, two kinds of activists were found: the activist organizations and

personal bloggers. Activist organizations tend to be centralized, have a headquarters and have

several members. Personal bloggers on the other hand, tend to be common citizens with a strong

passion for certain issues. This passion for environmental issues, in the case of this study,

compels them voice their opinion online about environmental efforts taken by retailers such as

Wal-Mart.

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Corporate Social Responsibility

As seen in the literature review, corporate social responsibility is a hard term to define.

This difficulty of defining CSR is not only an issue the academic literature battles with, it is also

discussed among public relations practitioners, corporations, and even consumers. According to

Fleishman Hillard (2005), consumers define CSR in ways most relevant to them, often without

“experts.” I would argue that consumers are not the only ones that define CSR in ways most

relevant to them, so do corporations, the media, and activists. Wal-Mart in the case of the “green

stores” defines corporate social responsibility in very narrow terms. For the retailer, investing

money in the experimental stores of McKinney, Texas and Aurora, Colorado is an appropriate

environmental effort but the media and activists tend to disagree with the retailer when defining

environmental efforts and social responsibility efforts. The media and activists deem Wal-Mart’s

“green stores” as just scratching the surface of the environmental problems the retailer faces.

Wal-Mart’s experimental stores are overshadowed by its polluting business model in the

environmental realm and by other issues like employee’s rights in the CSR realm according to

the media and activists.

Another reason why it is hard to pin down one definition for CSR may be attributed to

the negative reaction the public has of Corporate America. According to Fleishman Hillard’s

(2005) report, overall Corporate America receives low marks for its CSR performance. These

low marks in CSR reflect the skepticism of the public—let it be the media or activists—of

corporations such as Wal-Mart. In other words, the general public is incredulous of Corporate

America, not just Wal-Mart, and their CSR efforts. The reasons behind these low marks may

vary, and it also may be caused by the different definitions of CSR that the media, activists, and

the public have.

43

The negative reaction towards Corporate America does not help retailers such as Wal-

Mart in the area of corporate social responsibility. In the case of Wal-Mart’s “green stores” it can

be argued that the retailer failed to convert its public relations frames into salient messages. The

amount of ink or news coverage that their experimental stores received is not the criteria for

successful public relations. Rather, it is the contribution each story makes to build a cohesive

company identity (Garbett, 1988). The coverage that the “green stores” obtained did not reflect

the frames that Wal-Mart’s public relations material encompassed; therefore it did not build on

the company identity they are trying to portray of an environmentally conscious company.

If corporate America has a negative CSR image with the general public, it is the retailer

Wal-Mart who probably tops this black list of companies. Wal-Mart is a company that makes

news headlines everyday regarding several issues some of which include its corporate social

responsibility. One of the reasons why Wal-Mart makes headlines is because the retailer is one of

the most powerful companies in the U.S. and arguably in the world. An indication of its power

was reflected in the record sales of 1.4 billion at its American stores the day after Thanksgiving

in 2002 (Slater, 2003). This power and influence the retailer encompasses will only get stronger

as their sales and numbers of stores continue to grow. In fact, in 2003 Wal-Mart was ranked

number one on Fortune’s Most Admired List of American companies. Even though Wal-Mart

may be powerful and admired as a money-making business, it is not yet admired or even deemed

as a socially responsible company. Although it is making CSR efforts in the environmental area

such as the experimental “green stores”, Wal-Mart still has a long way ahead to be considered a

socially responsible company in the eyes of the media and activists.

Currently, Wal-Mart is being sued in about 5,000 different lawsuits which include an

array of topics such as gender discrimination, race discrimination among other issues (Willing,

44

2001). Environmental issues are part of the issues Wal-Mart faces, but it has not been the

highlight or priority of the CSR issues. Employee’s discrimination and rights have taken

precedence over environmental issues and have been the main concern presented in anti-Wal-

Mart documentaries and anti-corporate campaigns.

The skepticism towards Wal-Mart’s environmental effort could have several parts to it.

First, the disbelief could be caused by the past history of the retailer as not being a socially

responsible corporation. The past problems in the areas of labor, gender discrimination, and

economic impact on small businesses seem to overshadow Wal-Mart’s efforts to protect the

environment. The precedence of other issues over the environmental issues leads to think that

maybe Wal-Mart will not be seen as a socially responsible company until it addresses other

issues like labor and gender discrimination, issues that have more importance in the eyes of the

news and activists.

Secondly, the negative attitude from the press (and other publics) towards public relations

could be another aspect fueling the skepticism towards the green stores. Some news materials

call the retailer’s experimental stores a “PR move”, suggesting the public relations efforts mean

spinning the truth or seeking to divert attention from other issues. This negative perception of

public relations might be another factor affecting the non-receptive attitude of some of the

media.

Thirdly, the perception that corporate social responsibility is public relations is not good

for Wal-Mart and its “green stores.” The news and activists in this case study tend to portray

corporate social responsibility and public relations as being the same. Thus, if public relations

means spinning the truth, then CSR efforts will not be seen as transparent either.

45

Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Relations

The field of public relations is seeing huge growth in a green movement and therefore a

corporate social responsibility movement. The trend is such that agencies such as Ketchum

Public Relations, have their own divisions of corporate social responsibility. Fleishman-Hillard

International Communications even teamed up in 2005 with the National Consumers League to

conduct a benchmark survey that assessed consumer attitudes toward and behaviors regarding

corporate social responsibility, as well as the role media and technology play in informing people

about what companies are doing to be socially responsible (Fleishman-Hillard & National

Consumers League, 2005).

Public relations practitioners are not the only ones to notice this growing trend;

companies are also joining the green wagon as well. Automakers such as Honda launched a

campaign named “Environmentology” in which they highlight their environmentally friendly

vehicles (Honda, 2005). Even the most recent soccer World Cup taking place in Germany this

year, has a campaign called “Green Goal” which prides in taking part in environmental friendly

building and construction (Wilson, 2006).

The growing trend of corporate social responsibility is apparent to public relations

practitioners and corporations. But what is the relationship between corporate social

responsibility and public relations? This study suggests that public relations plays a part in

communicating and promoting CSR messages and efforts, but it does not suggest that corporate

social responsibility is the same as public relations. If companies were responsible in the first

place, there would not be a need for corporate social responsibility. Public relations is a

corporate management function of relationships with different stakeholders. Managing these

relationships is an important task for PR practitioners, but these practitioners do not have the

46

power or knowledge to implement CSR efforts and initiatives on their own. In the case of

environmental efforts, knowledge of natural science, technology, among other areas is required

to come up with an appropriate environmental CSR effort. In other words, a PR practitioner

cannot enforce corporate social responsibility solely as a PR function. Social responsibility

programs require a collective effort of public relations, top management, workers, and all the

levels in between.

Strengths and Limitations

The strength of the study is the qualitative aspect of the framing method used. This

methodology allowed examining closely at how framing operates in the creation of CSR

messages and how they are portrayed by the media and activists. It examines framing techniques

that are distinctive to public relations messages and how they work in order to become salient

messages in the media.

An additional strength of this study is its contribution to the literature on Wal-Mart. The

retailer is usually examined from a business perspective and it is scrutinized for its impact on

smaller businesses. The little literature found on Wal-Mart and its CSR efforts is largely anti-

Wal-Mart. This study analyzed a CSR effort, an environmental effort to be precise, and studied

its coverage received by the media and activists.

One of the limitations of this study is the analysis of only an environmental CSR effort

from Wal-Mart. The retailer deals with other areas of corporate social responsibility such as

employee’s rights and their impact on small businesses which in most cases, takes over in

importance to environmental issues. Further research on Wal-Mart and its social responsibility

should investigate areas like employee’s rights and impact on smaller businesses.

47

Another limitation of the study is the lack of differentiation between organized activists

and bloggers. Cyber activism is an area that is growing, but there are differences between your

average blogger who posts their opinions on a web site compared to a group of people put

together in an organization, coordinating efforts towards specific goals. The idea behind

organized activists and bloggers is the same, they want to raise awareness about issues and

hopefully cause change, but their strategies and messages may be different.

Opportunities for Future Research

In an effort to continue the research in the environmental endeavors of Wal-Mart, it is

highly recommended to investigate the effect the decision of the retailer to go organic. It could

be possible that Wal-Mart, like many big companies, has figured out it is just good marketing

and good reputation building to be in favor of things that Americans are increasingly interested

in, such as the environment and organics. It is also possible that the organic move is another step

into fulfilling Wal-Mart’s environmental mission statement that was mentioned in Chapter

Three.

Another opportunity for future research would be a follow up to this study when the

three-year testing period of the “green stores” runs up. A similar study could be designed to

analyze the frames that emerge from Wal-Mart, the media, and activists and compare them to the

initial reactions to the retailer’s “green stores.”

An additional prospect of study would be researching other CSR efforts from Wal-Mart.

Further studies could be designed in order to analyze single efforts, such as the case of my study,

in areas such as employee’s rights, discrimination issues, and economic impact on the

community and other businesses.

48

Conclusion

In conclusion, this study sought to illuminate how frames construct corporate social

responsibility messages and how these differ depending on who produces them. Differences

were found in the frames of the three groups (Wal-Mart, the media, and activists) due to their

difference in the definition of CSR. The media and activists had more similarities in their frames

than they did with the retailer. This may be due in part to both activists and the news media being

are outsiders to the retailer. They thus have more in common as customers or possible customers

of Wal-Mart.

The implications that this study draws for the field of public relations are two-fold. First,

public relations is not the same as corporate social responsibility. CSR should be collaborative

effort from different departments and levels of management within the company. The public

relations practitioner should take a leadership role when creating, implementing, and promoting a

CSR effort or campaign. But, a CSR effort or campaign is not the job of only the PR practitioner;

it has to be a group effort backed up by ethic of the company. Second, in order for a CSR effort

to be believed and accepted by the media, activists, and the general public the effort should be

backed up by authentic concern and action for change. As I said before, I don’t believe corporate

social responsibility would be needed or would exist if companies were doing the ethical or right

thing in the first place. In other words, a CSR effort should be part of a bigger plan of change.

CSR efforts should not be done sporadically and aimlessly. They should be part of a bigger goal

for the betterment of the company, the environment, and its stakeholders.

In the end, this study has led me to a better understanding of the important role that

public relations and frames play in the construction of meanings about social reality. The frames

that construct each person’s social reality depend on the role one plays in society and the

49

personal beliefs one has. I have also learned that corporate social responsibility is a concept that

is rapidly growing. Even though it is hard to define, it seems that everyone agrees that is

something important and something that has to be implemented. Whether it is Wal-Mart and its

environmental goals, or Bill Gates from Microsoft retiring from its company to dedicate himself

to its not-for-profit foundation, CSR is here to stay and will be subject of study for many years to

come.

50

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