Corporate Misinformation

Wolf Richter on Walgreens. Worth reading.

Why Walgreens is in Trouble in San Francisco and is Closing Some Stores: It’s Not Shoplifting, that’s an Artful Distraction from the Real Reasons

"Walgreens can say whatever nonsense it wants to say. It’s not illegal to spout off propaganda to cover up idiotic operational decisions, such as over-storing San Francisco to monopolize the market, and to divert attention from catastrophic long-term changes in the market, such as the brick-and-mortar meltdown due to the shift to ecommerce or the dominance of Kaiser.

The problem here is that the media is picking up this corporate clickbait, and in its braindead manner, is making this clickbait go viral to get clicks. People will only read the headlines and share those links – without knowing what’s going on and not wanting to know what’s going on – in order to be amused by whatever the crazies in San Francisco are doing again."