This week, Los Angeles labor and community activists held a press conference as part of their continued efforts to speak out against the construction of a new Walmart in Chinatown. The event attracted lots of people from the community... including a fake reporter: Walmart sends fake reporter to spy on warehouse workers
A bunch of people attended the press conference, including a woman named Stephanie Harnett, who was handing out her business card and introducing herself as an associate at Walmart's public relations/lobbying firm Mercury. Not a big deal, right? But wait.
A week earlier, Stephanie had been at another anti-Walmart press-only event and introduced herself as "Zoe Mitchell," a student student reporter who was purportedly sympathetic to the issue and wanted to interviewing workers. Eh?
Turns out, Zoe was not really interested in workers and stuff.
Yesterday, activists put two and two together and then realized that Stephanie and Zoe were indeed the same person, sent in undercover to get intel on the anti-Walmart efforts. Walmart, you just got caught engaging in some pretty lame-ass wannabe spy shit.
If gentrification and destroying small businesses weren't bad enough, now Walmart has been exposed for engaging in more really unethnical business practices. The firm reportedly fired Ms. Harnett, but come on, do we really believe that she acted on her own?
Give me a break Walmart. Los Angeles' Chinatown deserves so much better. More here: Wal-Mart's PR Firm Sent This Flack to Pose as a Reporter to Spy on a Pro-Labor Group.