What some folks cannot contemplate is that you may not want to be in Wal-Mart.

I read Ad Age because I like to know what's going on in the business, because it's good to know what brands are doing, and what kind of deals they are making. There is some really useful stuff in there. This past issue, there was an article about organic foods titled "Wal-Mart right in organic fight." The article can be read by going to AdAge.com (and then you'll have to search for "Wal-Mart right in organic" which will pull up the article and then you'll have to join).

There has been alot of talk around what is going to happen once Wal-Mart steps up it's organic offerings. The important thing to note is what happens to organic food. What happens to the little guy with standards once the big guy demands to play.

I wrote back to AdAge and it got in!

Organic is not about price.

Organic is not about mass production.

Organic is about a standard.

Wal-Mart can tout all it wants to that it is bringing organic to the masses, but the current infrastructure for organic foods cannot handle supplying 114 million Wal-Mart shoppers every week. Organic food cannot be grown on such a scale. It’s impossible.

That’s why Wal-Mart stepping into the organic game changes it all. They’ll lobby openly to allow un-organic practices to be allowed. They’ll bring in ‘organic’ foods from out of the country, where organic practices aren’t regulated.

You can celebrate Wal-Mart’s supposed “Win” in the organic fight, but all the organic groups are trying to do is keep things ORGANIC.

The sad part is, once Wal-Mart has changed the way Organic is defined, those beloved Wal-Mart masses are going to end up paying a premium for “Organic Wal-Mart” food that will be the same food that they’ve been buying all along. They’ll just be paying more for it.

So, I propose this to the people out there that love their pure pre-Wal-Mart organic foods: Wal-Mart can keep the term “organic” and they can do whatever they want with it. (Just think! Organic Doritoes! Organic Mountain Dew! Organic Ho-Ho’s!)

In the spirit of branding… let’s have a re-branding effort!

Let’s call “organic” something else entirely. Instead of trying to fight the mass consumption greed gorilla, just step politely over them and start calling it something else. After all, organic by any other name would taste just as pure.