Kansas firm airs Wal-Mart's candid videos
April 9, 2008 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. dropped longtime contractor Flagler
Productions in 2006. In response to losing its biggest customer,
the small company has opened its archive, for a fee, to researchers
who include plaintiffs' lawyers and union critics seeking clips of
unguarded moments at the world's largest retailer.
Those moments never meant for public display include a scene of
male managers parading in drag at an executive meeting, a clip used
by union-backed critics at Wal-Mart Watch for a recent
advertisement castigating the retailer's attitude toward female
employees.
"The videos provide insight into the company's real corporate
culture when they're not in the public eye," Wal-Mart Watch
spokeswoman Stacie Lock Temple said Tuesday.
Much of the interest in the candid videos is coming from
plaintiff lawyers pursuing cases against Wal-Mart.
"The rarity is that it exists at all," said Brad Seligman,
lead attorney in a massive class-action lawsuit that alleges
Wal-Mart discriminated systemically against female employees.
"Once in a while you come upon documents that are helpful in a
case," the Berkeley, Calif.-based lawyer added. "What's amazing
about this is that this company has a video record going back many
years showing senior management in at times fairly candid
situations."
Seligman said one clip from Lenexa, Kan.-based Flagler shows
Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton in the late 1980s telling the board of
directors that not enough women were in management.
Wal-Mart denies it discriminates against women and in recent
years has published its annual women and minority hiring
statistics.
Wal-Mart said it is unhappy with the public airing of its video
record.
"Needless to say, we did not pay Flagler Productions to tape
internal meetings with this aftermarket in mind," Wal-Mart
spokeswoman Daphne Moore said.
She declined to comment on any legal steps the company might be
considering.
Flagler says Wal-Mart has no legal power over the videos because
the two sides did not sign a contract when founder Mike Flagler was
hired in the 1970s to produce Wal-Mart meetings and management
conferences.
Co-owner Mary Lyn Villaneuva said the business continued
producing and filming such events as shareholder meetings and an
annual store manager conference until it was suddenly dropped by
Wal-Mart in 2006.
Wal-Mart was about 95 percent of Flagler's business, Villaneuva
said. The loss meant the company nearly collapsed. So it looked to
its assets and realized that it could charge for access to its
video library.
"We would like to go back to being a production company, but
right now we're getting by as an archive," Villaneuva said.
Flagler charges $250 an hour for video research and additional
fees for a DVD copy of film clips.
Villaneuva said Wal-Mart has offered to buy the video library
for $500,000. But Flagler considers that too low for a collection
they value at several million dollars. She said the two sides have
been in contact off and on about a possible sale.
Wal-Mart declined to comment on whether it is in talks to buy
the archive.
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On the Net:
Flagler Productions:
http://www.flaglerproductions.com/index.html
Flagler clips on YouTube: http://youtube.com/user/FlaglerSafety
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.: http://walmartstores.com
Wal-Mart Watch: http://walmartwatch.com
