Wal-Mart, cookie thief?

by Kim Peterson

Wal-Mart (WMT) has been called a lot of things, but Destroyer of Girl Scout Funding isn't one of them.

Until now.

One woman who spent years as "Cookie Mom" for her daughter's troop says Wal-Mart is copying two of the most popular Girl Scout cookies -- Thin Mints (pictured) and Tagalongs -- to sell under its own private label. The woman, a scholar and consultant named C.V. Harquail, says Wal-Mart is testing its Girl Scout knockoffs in limited release under the Great Value brand.

"Wal-mart can sell all the hunting equipment, cheap plastic gizmos and clothes made in sweatshops that it wants to sell," Harquail writes on her blog. "But why must they encroach upon the market of a non-profit? Why do they have to go after the Girl Scouts?"

Harquail said she sampled the cookies at a recent conference in Chicago. They were "reasonable facsimiles" of Girl Scout cookies, she adds.


Advertising Age tried to ask Wal-Mart about the issue, but a spokeswoman did not respond. A Girl Scouts spokeswoman said other companies have put out cookies similar to Girl Scouts varieties in the past. I can't think of anything resembling a Thin Mint that's ever been sold on a mass scale.

Girl Scout cookies are in high demand every year, and it's not hard to imagine Wal-Mart wanting to cash in on some of that fever. There's no law preventing the company from selling its own version of a Thin Mint, either. But the idea of a global retailing giant intentionally going after the Girl Scout cookie market isn't going to sit well with some of the mothers that are Wal-Mart's core customers.

"Just when you think your opinion about Wal-mart might be changing," Harquail writes. "Just when you think that maybe, just maybe, Wal-mart was learning to be a better citizen...Wal-mart turns around and does something really...despicable."

Cookie sales give the Girl Scouts much of their annual operational funding, and Thin Mints, the most popular flavor, brings in 25% of sales alone, Harquail says.

I gotta admit, I'm torn on this one. What do you think? If Harquail's report is true, should Wal-Mart be selling its own Girl Scout cookie knockoffs?