The world’s largest retailer and employer is going on the offensive with a new corporate citizenship push to bolster its beleaguered brand. Walmart on Tuesday announced its bid to jolt the U.S. economy out of its continued sluggishness by pledging huge new investments by the company in boosting jobs, sourcing domestically and even hiring military veterans.

Walmart announced plans to buy an additional $50 billion in U.S.-made goods over the next decade in areas such as sporting goods and high-end appliances and invited other retailers to combine in similar efforts that would total $500 billion in purchases over 10 years and spark an “American renewal,” as promised in October.

The commitment was the centerpiece of a speech by Bill Simon, Walmart’s U.S. president and CEO, at the National Retail Federation annual convention on Tuesday.Continue reading...

"It's belittling her experience with firearms and her experience. She is a West Point grad."

So went part of a statement to brandchannel by Robert Farago, publisher of the popular gun blog The Truth About Guns. Farago was speaking of a new New York Times profile of Paula Broadwell — disgraced biographer and former mistress of former CIA Director David Petraeus —that referred to the author as "a model for a machine gun manufacturer." Farago further called ther Times assessment "condescending."

Watch the promotional video for Kriss, the "machine gun manufacturer" in question, featuring Broadwell and it's hard not to agree. Then again, Broadwell's own LinkedIn account lists her as a "demonstrator/model for Kriss." Broadwell's speaker bio for the "The PPL" — a media space attached to the Sept. 2012 Democratic National Convention — notes that she is "a sponsored 1/2 Ironman Triathlete and a female model/demonstrator for KRISS (.45 caliber machine gun manufacturer)." It's a detail that her Penguin publishing bio, however, lacks.

The Broadwell scandal comes as the Kriss brand is having its best year ever. After appearing in The Avengers, the Kriss Vector took other starring roles in the hands of athletic women like Kate Beckinsale in 2012 hits Total Recall and in Resident Evil: Retribution. (Milla Jovovich even shot a promotional video shooting a Kriss, not unlike Broadwell's promo.)

Now, Kriss is getting even more name recognition thanks to its attachment to the author who helped bring down, in the NYT's words, "the nation’s top spy."Continue reading...

The marketing behind Act of Valor, the new box office champ (earning $24.7 million its opening weekend), is the story of a film with an unprecedented amount of cooperation between the U.S. armed forces and filmmakers. "Starring active duty Navy Seals" screams the tagline of the film.

But while the involvement of Navy Seals in starring roles of the film does represent a new boundary in the history of military involvement in Hollywood, the cooperation is by no means much a stretch. It's no secret that the US military frequently works with Hollywood in a mutually beneficial relationship of propaganda and resource access. Act of Valor is just the latest example of a comfy friendship.Continue reading...

One of the most beloved demographics in America today is members of the military and their families. Every politician has at least one in his or her back pocket. Every major arena and stadium honors them. Every major city memorializes them. Every flag waves thanks to them.

Celebrating Veterans Day on November 11 is another way Americans show their thanks and respect for those who have taken part in something that the rest of us – no matter how much we saturate ourselves with films and books and conversations – can never fully understand: the everyday battles of war or, at the very least, the preparation for it.

This year, 7-Eleven is showing its love for all active, veteran and retired U.S. military personnel and their immediate families, by offering free, small Slurpee drinks between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.Continue reading...

As part of the White House's new "Joining Forces" campaign to rally support for service members and their families, First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis visited the Sears Distribution Center in Columbus, Ohio today.

As shown in the clip above, they applauded the retailer's ongoing commitment to the military, and a new "Permanent Change of Duty Station" policy that enhances the company's recruiting and HR programs that already support miltary service members and their families.Continue reading...