Ad Watchdog Finds 100+ More False “Made in USA” Listings on Walmart.com

The advertising watchdog Truth in Advertising (TINA.org) said on June 28, 2016, that Walmart’s website was still full of false and misleading “Made in USA” claims, more than a year after the group first reported the problem to the Federal Trade Commission.

What TINA.org found

The group said it collected a new sample of more than 100 Made in USA misrepresentations on Walmart.com. Products ranging from markers to baseball caps to diapers were listed as Made in USA, TINA.org said, even though they were made wholly in places such as China and Korea, or were made in the USA with imported parts. Under the FTC standard, products with significant imported parts cannot carry an unqualified Made in USA claim. Some listings also gave conflicting origin information on the same page.

“Clearly FTC intervention is necessary at this time,” said TINA.org Executive Director Bonnie Patten. The group sent its findings to the FTC and to Walmart.

Background

TINA.org first reported Walmart to the FTC in 2015. Walmart called the earlier errors coding problems and later blamed outdated supplier information. The FTC closed its inquiry after Walmart said it had removed the false claims and put procedures in place to catch future ones.

CBS News reported that Walmart called TINA’s claims “not new” and said it would keep working with suppliers on transparency. Walmart had also added a disclaimer to listings saying origin information may not be accurate. TINA.org said that disclaimer was hard to find and did not fix the legal problem.

The report came as Walmart hosted its fourth U.S. Manufacturing Summit and promoted its pledge to buy an additional $250 billion in products supporting American jobs. TINA.org went back to the FTC about Walmart again in 2021; see our coverage.