After "Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe received death threats for starring in a Walmart commercial touting the company's commitment to American manufacturing, and after the company used Canadian rock band Rush in an ad celebrating the American worker, the retail giant decided to choose a spokesperson even its most fervent critics will hesitate to find fault with.
In an ad posted Friday on the company's YouTube page, Walmart highlights the moving story of Patrick, a man with mental and physical disabilities who triumphs over his ailments to earn a job at a toy factory.
Watch below as Patrick describes his journey from not being able to walk to manning a machine on the factory floor:
The ad continues Walmart's "Work is a Beautiful Thing" campaign, which seeks to shift the focus from the company's much-maligned labor practices to the fulfillment people like Patrick get from their manufacturing jobs.
As stated during previous ads in the campaign, which is being run by the ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, Walmart has pledged to purchase $250 billion of American-made products over the next 10 years.
According to the video's YouTube description, Patrick works at a factory owned by toy manufacturer Little Tikes. Walmart's official Twitter account retweeted a tweet that identified the commercial's star as Pat Gallagher of Akron, Ohio.
