Truth in Advertising (TINA.org), a Connecticut nonprofit, filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission on July 14, 2015. It said Walmart’s website was still full of false and deceptive “Made in USA” claims after the retailer missed its own deadline to correct them.
How it unfolded
- TINA.org sent Walmart a warning letter on June 22, 2015, and published a list of 100 Made in USA errors on Walmart.com on June 29.
- Walmart admitted inaccuracies, attributed them to “coding errors” and incorrect supplier information, and said it would fix them within two weeks. That deadline passed on July 9.
- As of July 13, 35 of the original 100 errors remained. A second sampling found another 100 errors, none of which had been corrected.
Examples
The complaint said a Step2 Push Around Sports Buggy carried a “Made in the USA” label on Walmart.com, while Step2’s own site said it was made in the USA of USA and imported parts, with a steering wheel made in China. TINA.org also cited Walmart’s Great Value aluminum foil, listed as assembled in the USA with USA components despite packaging that said “Product of Armenia.” A Rubbermaid container labeled Made in USA on the site said “Made in the U.S.A. of Global Components” on its packaging.
Rubbermaid conceded two of its listed products did not meet the standard for an unqualified claim, and Kimberly-Clark said it was investigating. Under FTC policy, an unqualified Made in USA claim requires that a product be “all or virtually all” made in the USA.
What came next
Sen. Chris Murphy cited the findings two weeks later in a letter asking the FTC to step up enforcement (our coverage). In October 2015, the FTC closed its inquiry after Walmart removed Made in USA logos from its listings (our coverage). TINA.org returned to the issue in 2016 (our coverage).
Source & credit
Sources: TINA.org: “TINA.org Reports Walmart’s Made in USA Mess to FTC”, July 14, 2015; TINA.org complaint letter to the FTC: “Wal-mart Stores, Inc.’s False and Deceptive USA Representations”, July 14, 2015.