Whole Foods Market® is an American grocery chain that is widely associated with healthy eating, expensive products, and gourmet food options. Under the page titled “Our Core Values,” the Whole Foods website lists the eight organizational values that underpin the company culture. The first and (presumably) most important value is Whole Foods’ dedication to selling “the highest quality natural and organic products available” (“Our Core Values,”2016). Its other corporate values include customer and employee satisfaction, wealth creation and community outreach, environmental stewardship, win-win business partnerships, and “healthy eating education.” On the same webpage, one may also find a “Declaration of Independence,” a “Higher Purpose Statement,” and an open letter titled “Sustainability and Our Future.” Each of these contains references to Whole Foods’ role as an active leader in the global food business. These passages also make use of key values words, such as “sustainable,” “courage,” “love,” “joy,” “integrity,” “dynamic,” “mission-driven,” and “excellence.”
The language used on the Whole Foods Market company webpage achieves a “rhetoric effect.” The use and repetition of the key words previously mentioned instill a sense of a value-driven company. Whole Foods Market knows its target market well. People who shop at Whole Foods are more likely to be health and environmentally conscious, and are more likely to be interested in sustainability efforts than the general population. In a somewhat heavy-handed way, the Whole Foods website panders to the tastes and preferences of its customer base.
In its public letters, mission statements, and declarations of organizational values, the company uses good public relations practices to achieve effective consumer outreach. In Chapter 11, Stovall (2015) writes of the usefulness of well-written letters in a effecting company’s public relations stance. He says, “Letters are a good way to direct a message straight to the people you want to receive the message” (p. 237). The letter about sustainability included on the company webpage accomplishes the organization’s goal in creating a strong brand association. The letter, which is directed at Whole Foods customers in general, drives home the message that the company will play an integral role in the future of sustainable agriculture. The letter promotes a vision of the future in which businesses “harness human and material resources without devaluing the integrity of the individual or the planet’s ecosystems” (“Sustainability and Our Future,” 2016). Using few words, this letter creates an impression in the reader of a company that aims to minimize its environmental impact and that respects and seeks to preserve nature. This has the pragmatic effect of increasing the company’s appeal to its primary customer base. This letter, as well as the other excerpts that can be found on the “Our Core Values” page, associates the Whole Foods brand with nature, fresh and organic food, and the protection of the environment. The fact that the first of its listed core values, over customer satisfaction, is selling “the highest quality natural and organic products available” serves to enhance this association.
Stovall (2015) continues his section on letters by saying that “the letter writer should ask [the] question ‘What do I want the reader to do after reading the letter?’” (p. 237). Ostensibly, Whole Foods wants those who read its open letter to feel compelled to go shop at its stores. To that end, it concludes its open letter with a reference to its selection of foods, which are free from genetic modification and which come with a USDA guarantee of freshness. The people on Whole Foods Market ®’s public relations team are masters of rhetoric.
References
Stovall, J. G. (2015). Writing For the Mass Media (9th ed. ). Pearson.
Our Core Values. (2016). Whole Foods Market. Retrieved April 20, 2016, from http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/mission-values/core-values
Sustainability and Our Future. (2016). Whole Foods Market. Retrieved April 20, 2016, from http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/mission-values/core-values/sustainability-and-our-future
