Wal-Mart, among other things, is battling a sexual discrimination lawsuit by female employees, as well as new laws on the books in municipalities across the country banning big-box stores in efforts to keep out the retailer.

Among the national newspapers in which Wal-Mart has placed full-page advertisements are the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. The ads are in the form of a letter written by Scott.

The website, at http://www.walmartfacts.com, touts its diversity as an employer (206,000 of its 1.6 million employees, it says, are African American and more than 220,000 are senior citizens) and its charitable deeds (it says the company gave $158 million to community groups and non-profits last year).