Everybody's favorite retail villain, Wal-Mart, is launching a campaign to spruce up its image:

In a full-page ad published in more than 100 newspapers across the country, Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott said it was time for the public to hear the "unfiltered truth" about Wal-Mart, and time for the company to stand up on behalf of a workforce that includes 1.2 million Americans.

"There are a lot of 'urban legends' going around these days about Wal-Mart, but facts are facts," Scott said. "Wal-Mart is good for consumers, good for communities and good for the U.S. economy."

Plus, they don't tolerate employees handing out photos of themselves wearing nothing but plastic bags.

Scott doesn't list any of the "urban legends" he seeks to debunk. However, the company has opened a new P.R. web site called Walmartfacts.com

Hey, if former Wal-Mart board member Hillary Rodham Clinton can spruce up her image enough to become a U.S. senator and frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in '08, who's to say the company's campaign won't succeed?