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Wal-Mart Contributes 5% of Sales to Homosexual Group

Netlore Archive: Email flier from the American Family Association claims Wal-Mart contributes 5% of its sales to a homosexual group promoting same-sex marriage


Description: Email flier
Circulating since: November 2006
Status: Misrepresents the facts
Analysis: See below


Email example contributed by Kim W., 1 November 2006:

November 9, 2006

Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire email list of family and friends.

Wal-Mart Contributes 5% Of Online Sales To Homosexual Group

Sign the pledge not to shop at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving. Time is short. Act today!

Dear _______,

Help recruit 1,000,000 families who will agree not to shop at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club (owned by Wal-Mart) on the Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving. Here's why:

In a show of support to help homosexuals legalize same-sex marriage, Wal-Mart has agreed to automatically donate 5% of online sales directly to the Washington DC Community Center for Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender People. The cash donation will come from online purchases made at Wal-Mart through the homosexual group's Web site. This move follows Wal-Mart's joining the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and agreeing to give generous financial help to that organization also.

Every purchase made online for books, music, videos, clothing and accessories, children's clothing and toys, and electronics at the site will automatically send 5% of the sales to the CCBLBT People. The agreement is an indication that Wal-Mart is totally committed to supporting the homosexual movement.

READ FULL TEXT


Comments: The above message was mass-emailed to about 3 million recipients by the American Family Association, a conservative Christian organization, on November 9, 2006. It is misleading on several counts.

The headline, "Wal-Mart Contributes 5% Of Online Sales To Homosexual Group," falsely implies that a percentage of Wal-Mart's online sales goes to the Community Center for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People in Washington, DC. The truth, as reported by Cox News Service, is that the organization receives a 5% revenue share of e-commerce sales generated only by users who purchase Wal-Mart merchandise by clicking a link on the CCGLBTP Web site.

Further down, the email states that "Wal-Mart has agreed to automatically donate 5% of online sales" to the group, and in the next sentence again refers to the arrangement as a "cash donation." But it is in no honest sense a "donation," nor is it the result of a special agreement between Wal-Mart and the CCGLBTP. It's an affiliate program in which the group participates along with more than 43,000 other organizations -- including, according to a Wal-Mart spokesperson, at least 100 Christian groups. All participants receive a 5% commission for merchandise sold via click-throughs to Wal-Mart's Web site. The CCGLBTP has been an affiliate for four years, collecting a whopping $4.17 in commissions since 2002, according to Cox News Service.

"The agreement," says the email, "is an indication that Wal-Mart is totally committed to supporting the homosexual movement."

Clearly, it indicates no such thing.

Outreach to homosexual groups already well-documented

What is not so clear is why the AFA felt it necessary to issue such a misleading statement when there is plenty of evidence accurately documenting Wal-Mart's support of homosexual advocacy groups. For example, it is a fact that Wal-Mart joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce earlier this year and even pledged to sponsor some of its programs. The company explained its commitment as follows:
Wal-Mart is supporting the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce to strengthen relationships that will help us connect with all the customers we serve. And, as a business, our commitment to welcome and to serve all customers with respect and without discrimination remains unchanged, and is critical to our success.

Wal-Mart is committed to advancing diversity among our employees, our suppliers and our customers. The company is in partnership with organizations around the world working on behalf of many groups, including women's groups, minority groups, and hundreds of other groups that reflect all aspects of our customers.

Consumers are, of course, free to protest to these policies if they find them objectionable by refusing to patronize Wal-Mart.


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Sources and further reading:

Gay Link Spurs Call for Wal-Mart Boycott
Cox News Service, November 2006

Wal-Mart Partners with Gay Marriage Group
Netlore Archive, 1 September 2006


Last updated: 11/11/06


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