On Social Networks, is Walmart a slow learner?

In August, Forbes reported on the trials & tribulations of banana titans Dole & Chiquita as they tried to manage a public relations crisis on their respective Facebook pages. Faced with an onslaught of posts from Facebook users supporting ForestEthics' call for the two companies to stop using Tar Sands fuel to ship products, the companies each responded in their own imperfect ways. 

What would Walmart do when faced with similar messaging on the prominent social network?  We decided to run a test.

Taking advantage of Facebook's ability to customize ads to target specific users, we published ads on the pages of Walmart employees and people who "like" Walmart. The ad (at right) depicts a modified Walmart logo with graphics that represent the company's dirty transportation footprint, accompanied by the following text:

"Walmart Uses Tar Sands TARmart: Powered by the world's dirtiest fuel. Its trucks use Canadian Tar Sands fuel that destroys forests and poisons our air & water."

These ads were viewed nearly 1.5 million times by both target groups. More than a quarter of all Walmart employees in the US who use Facebook -- approximately 50,000 of 200,000 -- saw the ad, at an average of nearly 15 times each. More than 100,000 people who "like" Walmart saw the ad an average of eight times each.

So far Walmart hasn't responded. Maybe they're not aware of these numbers. Perhaps they don't care. But information travels swiftly in this new highly-interconnected era, and at some point more people could be asking them to take responsibility for their use of a fuel that is at odds with the needs and values of 21st Century society.