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Wal-Mart Fires Agency Responsible for Nazi Image Ad and PR Manager Resigns

The London Daily Telegraph website reports that Peter Kanelos -- the Wal-Mart PR manager behind the ad that equated the retailer to victims of the Nazis -- has resigned. One wonders what his next job will be.

Kanelos is said to have been responsible for the ad, which appeared in the Arizona Daily Sun featuring an historic photo of Nazi supporters throwing books into a huge fire.

Wal-Mart also has canned HighGround, the Phoenix, AZ -based PR, "positioning and messsaging" company that created the ad. The president of HighGround said at the time of the fracas, "We will not back away from substance of the ads . . . People make mistakes. They move on," he said. Yeah, to the next client.


BL Ochman | Jun 12 05 3:12 | TrackBack (2)

Comments

Well, the firm and local PR manager resigned. I think canned might be a wee bit harsh of a term. According to the AP article on June 9 (http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap06-09-162225.asp?t=apcom&vts=6920051654), and others prior, HighGround had already resigned the account.

I agree that the "move on" comment was slightly offensive. It smacked of "certain whiny groups can't get over the Holocaust" to me.

Posted by: Jeremy Pepper at June 12, 2005 10:02 PM

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Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Wal-Mart Fires Agency Responsible for Nazi Image Ad and PR Manager Resigns:

Wal-mart PR guy goes bye-bye from Things That ... Make You Go Hmm
Twice this morning I've read things either directly or indirectly using nazi references and I'm not even a quarter through with reading. Just did a search and it appears that I've never used that 'n' word here on this blog in nearly 2,000 entries and w... [Read More]

Tracked on June 13, 2005 9:09 AM

PR Consequences from The Flack
The second involved a senior PR executive for Wal-Mart Stores who used an image of Nazi book-burning in a print ad campaign to make his point on a local real estate issue. Both efforts were ill-advised, and wound up costing each executive his job.... [Read More]

Tracked on June 13, 2005 4:50 PM

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About BL Ochman
BL Ochman
Blogger, social media strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies, and sought-after corporate speaker B.L. Ochman heads the creative team of whatsnextonline.com. She also publishes the Ethics Crisis blog for SRF Global Translations


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