Consumer Affairs & Relations

A new ad campaign that seeks to show "the real Walmart" from the perspective of customers, employees and suppliers is sure to ignite renewed debate over the company’s impact.

New York -- An OfficeMax shareholder sued the directors of the company on Thursday, seeking to block its acquisition by Office Depot Inc., Bloomberg reported. The investor called the proposed $1.2 billion all-stock deal "grossly inadequate".

"OfficeMax, if properly exposed to the market for corporate control, would bring a price materially in excess of the amount offered in the proposed transaction," the complaint filed by investor Eric Hollander said.

Pittsburgh -- Dick’s Sporting Goods has named Andre J. Hawaux as executive VP of finance and administration and CFO. He will oversee finance, legal, strategic planning and risk and compliance.

Hawaux has more than 30 years of experience as a retail/CPG executive, most recently as president of consumer foods at ConAgra Foods. He has also served in different executive roles in several divisions of PepsiCo.

New York -- Employees show increased levels of anxiety about their income, benefits and security, according to a new poll from Harris Interactive. Aggregated concern about these three issues rose from 56% in March to 57% in April.

Seattle -- Starbucks Coffee Co. is shaking up its senior management team with five promotions and two new appointments. John Culver, head of the China-Asia Pacific region with more than 10 years of Starbucks experience, is being promoted to group president, China and Asia Pacific (CAP), channel development and emerging brands. Jeff Hansberry, a three-year Starbucks veteran who has worked on the channel development and emerging brands team, is being promoted to president of China and Asia Pacific and will report to Culver.

By Douglas H. Meal, David T. Cohen, and Lisa L. Rachlin, Ropes & Gray LLP

Retailers, like all businesses, constantly seek to learn more about their customers in order to serve them better. In Tyler v. Michaels Stores, however, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently ruled that a simple step taken by many retailers to help achieve this goal – collecting the ZIP codes of their customers at the point of sale – can in some circumstances violate Massachusetts’ consumer protection statute.
   

NEW YORK — Delia’s has appointed Tracy Gardner as the company’s new chief creative officer, and also as a member of the board of directors. Walter Killough, who back in January announced his intention to step down as CEO April 1, has agreed to remain in the role through August 2. 

The company also named Michael Zimmerman chairman of the board, replacing Carter S. Evans, who will remain on the board.

ATLANTA — Kroger announced plans to host the largest Cinco de Mayo celebration in the Southeast at Fiesta Atlanta at Centennial Olympic Park this Sunday.

Walmart’s commitment earlier this year to hire 100,000 veterans over the next five years prompted the USO to award Walmart U.S. COO Gisel Ruiz its 2013 Woman of the Year Distinguished Service Award.

Ruiz was presented with the award at the USO’s 47th annual luncheon where she said the honor was humbling and a surprise.

LOS ANGELES — Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, is taking aim at Trader Joe’s in a full page ad it took out in the Los Angeles Times.

The union is calling out Trader Joe's for selling meat and poultry from animals raised on antibiotics. The ad highlights how the overuse of antibiotics by the meat and poultry industries on healthy animals is promoting the spread of drug resistant superbugs that threaten public health.