• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 6, 2019

Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote a brilliant piece for The New York Times today on Walmart and gun control.

The bigger message was that marketers the size of the big-box behemoth have the power to help curb gun violence despite Congress’ apparent impotence when it comes to passing laws that might contribute to that cause.

The piece was written as an open letter to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon.

“The legally purchased weapons that were used in the mass shootings did not come from Walmart,” Sorkin noted, while noting that Walmart is still the biggest retailer of guns in the country although it has discontinued or cut back sales on certain weapons.

“But guns in America travel through a manufacturing and supply chain that relies on banks like Wells Fargo, software companies like Microsoft, and delivery and logistics giants like Federal Express and UPS. All of those companies, in turn, count Walmart as a crucial client.”

“Economists have a term for the kind of influence you wield: economic leverage.”

That’s right — Walmart has the clout to force all those sectors, not to mention gunmakers themselves, to contribute to efforts that would make it more difficult for would-be evildoers to obtain near-military grade weapons. Weapons that can kill and injure three dozen people in 30 seconds as happened in Dayton, Ohio this weekend.

And the leverage extends far and wide as Sorkin notes, bringing Apple into the potential group of companies that could make a meaningful contribution. Apple CEO Tim Cook “should listen to you — after all, Walmart sells vast quantities of his company’s products. Apple already bans the use of Apple Pay to buy guns and ammunition online, but it hasn’t extended that policy to in-store purchases. Shouldn’t it? And now Apple is preparing to launch a credit card with Goldman Sachs and Mastercard. They could establish a policy from the get-go not to conduct transactions with retailers that sell guns or only those that follow a best-practices protocol.”

And imagine if FedEx and UPS and other delivery services stopped indiscriminately shipping weapons across state lines to people who haven’t had extensive background checks. What a concept.

And maybe the big brains in Adland ought to get involved.

Holding companies have a certain degree of economic leverage as well, don’t they? At the very least, they should cut ties with the forces in this country that believe the status quo is acceptable. And they should strike up conversations with marketing partners — Walmart isn’t the only company out there with economic leverage — to ponder what steps might to taken to help stop the carnage.