Happy Birthday Walmart?

Walmart turns 50 this week, but is it a "happy" birthday?

The mega-corporation known around the globe as Asda, Walmex, Seiyu but most of all -- Walmart -- has over two million employees and $447 billion a year in revenue, making it the largest private employer and retailer on the planet.[1]

But Walmart's expansion has come at a real cost, and communities around the globe are paying for it. 

From the single mother whose sales associate wages are too low to afford health insurance for her sick child, to the debt-enslaved worker in Thailand who had his passport seized and can't return to his family.

Help commemorate Walmart's 50th birthday by sharing this infographic of somber facts about the retail giant

The sheer size and power of Walmart means it has an enormous impact on everything it does, from wiping out local jobs and guzzling more energy than 57 nations in the world combined, to making its founders, the Waltons, one of the wealthiest families on Earth.

You may not have a Walmart in your own country but its global impact is undeniable. And it's expanding into more countries every year, so before you know it, there could be a Walmart in your very own neighbourhood, killing off countless small businesses.

This constant pursuit of expansion, efficiency and lower costs has entrenched hundreds of thousands in poverty through insufficient pay, and created unsafe work environments for hundreds of in developing nations, slaving away in subcontracted warehouses. The corporation has thrown environmental sustainability out the window, and cost thousands of jobs by driving local small business under -- all the while growing the Walton family's enormous wealth.

So while the champagne may be flowing at Walmart HQ, for the rest of us, Walmart's anniversary is hardly cause for celebration.

After you've checked it out for yourself, help us spread the word about the real-world impact of a company relentlessly and ruthlessly focused on its bottom line, by forwarding this email or sharing the image on Facebook.