Some of you may have heard the news that Walmart associates in Ohio put together a food drive so some of their associates could have a Thanksgiving dinner. It got some press as anti-Walmart groups used it as proof that Walmart doesn’t pay a living wage and Walmart countered with their own PR.
Things got a little more interesting when none other than Ashton Kutcher got involved on Twitter. It started like this.
Walmart is your profit margin so important you can't Pay Your Employees enough to be above the poverty line? http://t.co/YT8QDmyJ8G
— ashton kutcher (@aplusk) November 19, 2013
To which Walmart replied:
.@aplusk It’s unfortunate that an act of human kindness has been taken so out of context. We're proud of our associates in Canton.
— Walmart Newsroom (@WalmartNewsroom) November 19, 2013
And then things took off from there:
@WalmartNewsroom you should be proud of your associates but I'm not sure if they should be proud of you.
— ashton kutcher (@aplusk) November 19, 2013
@aplusk We know you believe in opportunity like we do & we'd love to talk to you more about it. http://t.co/Mc3ixj3HNa
— Walmart Newsroom (@WalmartNewsroom) November 19, 2013
@WalmartNewsroom you had 17 billion in profits last year. You're a 260 billion$ company. What are we missing? http://t.co/pZM4qweQIO
— ashton kutcher (@aplusk) November 19, 2013
@WalmartNewsroom Walmart does a lot of great things but it needs to be a leader on this issue as well.
— ashton kutcher (@aplusk) November 19, 2013
@aplusk We think you're missing a few things. The majority of our workforce is full-time and makes more than $25,000/year.
— Walmart Newsroom (@WalmartNewsroom) November 19, 2013
@aplusk Also about 75% of our store management teams started as hourly associates & they earn between $50,000 and $170,000 a year on avg.
— Walmart Newsroom (@WalmartNewsroom) November 19, 2013
@aplusk Lastly, every year, we promote about 160,000 people to jobs with more responsibility and higher pay.
— Walmart Newsroom (@WalmartNewsroom) November 19, 2013
@aplusk We know we can always get better as a company. This year we've made providing more opportunities for our associates a top priority.
— Walmart Newsroom (@WalmartNewsroom) November 19, 2013
That’s where the conversation ended but not before gaining the attention of a large portion of Twitter followers. It always strikes me as odd how quick people are to spend other people’s money. Maybe Ashton should start a business that can employee millions of low income people and pay them what ever he wants.
What do you think? Who’s right?
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