AdAge In 60 Seconds
Posted Dec 11th 2006 11:30AM by Chris Thilk
Filed under: AdAge in 60 Seconds, Executive Shifts, Controversies
Julie Roehm, who recently and unceremoniously left Wal-Mart, was one of the biggest backers of the development of e-Media Exchange, the online auction-based system for buying and selling TV ad time. Despite her departure, thankfully, the project will continue forward. Other participants in the platform met and decided to continue on with or without Wal-Mart's involvement should her predecessor have a different mindset on it.- AdAge actually has a detailed feature on the things that led to Roehm's departure, including some ethically questionable behavior and rumors that she slept with her subordinate. The biggest problem, though, is that she was just too darned radical in her thinking for the retailer that works hard to not change its image. Interesting, since changing the corporate culture and image was what she was more or less hired to do. It's all very interesting.
- All this is just the latest in a series of scandals and missteps by the retailer that include executives admitting to wire-fraud, a couple of botched attempts to shoot for a high-end image makeover, a couple of fake blogs and continued labor issues.
